Mukoma wa wa Ngugi, the son of renown novelist Ngugi wa Thiong’o has revealed that his mother was a victim of domestic violence.
His mother Nyambura was Thiong’o’s first wife and she died in 1996. The two were blessed with 6 children, including Mukoma, who is also an author.
In a Facebook post, Mukami admitted that his father was physically abusive towards his mother that she at times sought refuge at his grandmother’s place.
“My father physically abused my late mother- he would beat her up. Some of my earliest memories are me going to visit her at my grandmother’s where she would seek refuge. But with that said, it is the silencing of who she was that gets me. Ok I have said,” he opened up.
Thiong’o married his second wife Njeeri while in Exile in the United States. The two met in 1989, 11 years after fleeing Kenya.
The author was forced to leave the country a year after being held in custody without trial. At the time, the government had launched a crackdown on political messaging in art.
In 1995, he declared that Njeeri was his only legal wife and that he was not bound to any other woman, although he had grown-up children.
In 2004, Njeri made headlines after she was attacked alongside her husband and raped. Security officers behind the attack were brought to book and sentenced in 2006.
Njeeri and Thiong’o got divorced but details about the matter remain scanty.
