On March 12, Mukoma wa Ngugi, the Kenyan American poet and author, who is the son of Ngugi wa Thiong’o, the famed writer widely seen as a giant of African literature, took to X, formerly Twitter, to allege that his father was an abusive husband.

“My father Ngugi wa Thiong’o physically abused my late mother. He would beat her up. Some of my earliest memories are of me going to visit her at my grandmother’s where she would seek refuge.”

Mukoma’s tweet went viral and solicited hundreds of responses that exposed the long, dark shadow patriarchy continues to cast over many African societies.

Sure, many commentators thanked Mukoma for sharing his account of a man who is not only his father, but an African cultural icon.

Others, however, were less complimentary and appeared to be gravely offended by his openness. They accused him of embarrassing his father and seeking validation from Westerners.

Mukoma’s assertions, some claimed, was a “consequence of Western education”. It is, they suggested, “un-African” to speak out against one’s father, more so to thousands and potentially millions of strangers.

Ten days after his initial statement, on March 23, Mukoma responded to the criticism he received for speaking up for his mother.

“We cannot use African culture to hide atrocities,” he wrote on X. “My father beat up my mother. What is African about that?”

In another post, he described the culture of violence against women that underpins Kenyan society as a “patriarchal cancer”.

Ngugi is a literary genius, a storyteller par excellence and a respected revolutionary.

Before there was the internet, video on-demand platforms, TV or even radio in most households, two African giants dominated African literature: Chinua Achebe, the Nigerian author, and, of course, Ngugi.

From the 1960s, Achebe and Ngugi articulated African identity and consciousness amid the anti-colonial struggle.

They stood up for the human rights of Africans with their words.

Through novels like Things Fall Apart........

© Al Jazeera