A POLITICAL FICTION BY ONE AHMADOU KARAMOU.
This book is one reason why you should have good friends.Through 7 vigils,not chapters,the Ivorian author has delved into the failures that characterised post-indepent African nations.The narration is satirically achieved by one storyteller Bingo as his apprentice Tiecoura entertains an audience that is never clearly defined,leaving us to assume it is the reader.
If Koyaga,the master hunter turned dictator does not remind you of an African dictator,then you have not seen much.With his hyperbole,Bingo will take you through a pre-colonial Africa to what many may call modern day Africa by Bongo's terms.
The book traverses through the themes of colonial injustice,Cold War neo-colonialism and revolutions.That such a book can even circulate now is a testimony to the freedoms that are turbulently snatched then returned.
If we as Africans feel offended when suspects are called to ICC,we will deny such accusations with the cautionary words of Bingo.Bingo's proverbs abound with wisdom that cuts across the French translation by Frank Wynne.
Ahmadou minces no words when he meticulously describes the school of dictatorship and brotherhood characteristic of regional organisations set up to drive the agenda of egotists.That our culture has long been used to pin us down will hurt you as peruse through pages of men of destiny,geomancy,cartomancy,fetishes etc.
My two cents on this novel:we as Africans need to know whence we came from to appreciate our destination.
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