Ngugi wa Thiong’o can easily be called the Chinua Achebe of Eastern Africa or Shakespeare of the same, but with less inclination to plays.

For decades, he defined our literature in school and leisure reading. His books had catchy titles; The River Between, Petals of Blood, A Grain of Wheat and Gíkúyú titles like Caitani Mutharabainî (Devil on the Cross) or Ngaahika Ndeenda (I Will Marry When I Want). We can’t forget Matigari ma Njirúngi, loosely translated from deep Gíkúyú, bullet survivors.

It’s his affinity for writing in Gíkúyú that sets him apart from other writers. Some suggest that is why a Nobel Prize in literature escaped him.  Few can deny that writing in a local language was boldness; he was a rebel with a cause.

Bold because not learning and speaking your mother tongue is now considered heroic among some Kenyan elites and pseudo-elites.

Ngugi, having grown up when the embers of the old order were still smouldering, must have appreciated the richness of the local languages, which are spoken from the heart, not the mouth. Think of proverbs and riddles. Ideally, proverbs and riddles are impossible to translate!

Ngugi must have met his grandparents and other sages who taught him the local language to a mastery level. Richard Leakey, like other anthropologists, knows the importance of local language in their research.

The Catholic Church used local languages to reach our hearts in evangelisation. As children, we were mesmerised by Italian priests talking in our local languages.

Ngugi's success in writing is based on something our generation has a shortage of - change. We define our change in technological terms. In Ngugi’s life, change was broader, more socio-cultural. 

He must have met his kinsmen wearing traditional clothes, eating traditional food and going through traditional ceremonies, long before imported religion and modernism took over. I still recall two neighbours who wore traditional clothes, including earrings - Wambui wa Jonah and Njoki wa Ngigie.

Ngugi went through colonialism and Mau Mau before uhuru. These were great changes, and chronicling them was his work. Change is as much a catalyst for writing as innovation and entrepreneurship.

In fact, one easy way to determine if Kenya is going through rapid or significant changes is if there is an outpouring of literary works. Remember Nigeria in the 1960s? England after the Industrial Revolution? France after Napoleon?

Ngugi left Kenya and lived in the USA for a long time, specifically in California. Yet another change! Even his marital life was full of changes. He was prolific to the end, to a ripe age of 87. I never had a chance to meet him despite sharing a high school.

What is his lasting legacy?

His books will outline him, read across oceans and generations. We could even start a whole course, Ngugism. His books define Kenya through the eyes of a participant observer. 

And despite being fictional, they were realistic. Reading his books was like talking to him. His characters were so real, you felt like you knew them.

And why not local languages that are spoken from the heart, not the mouth? That allowed him to be imaginative and choose words carefully without the restriction of a foreign language.

It’s such an affinity to local languages that spawned great Irish writers, from James Joyce to WB Yeats.  What if we had a Ngugi from each of several communities or tribes that make up Kenya? The word tribe is slowly disappearing, but not tribalism.

The best way to celebrate Ngugi wa Thiong’o is to nurture and support local languages, from Dholuo to Rendille, Turkana, Taita and the rest. That is part of the human heritage.  And the most complex. Why do we speak different languages? How do babies learn them so easily?

The beauty about local languages is that they do not stop us from learning English, Swahili and foreign languages. More languages give us windows to new experiences and wisdom.

Indians, Jews, Chinese or Japanese still go to Ivy League universities speaking their mother tongues. Why do we deny our children that privilege?

There is no evidence that talking only English will make you more competitive in the job market. It could be the opposite, narrowing your perspectives and experiences. 

My encounter with elderly men who can’t read or write has convinced me that local languages are powerful and conceal a lot of wisdom.

Can we honour Ngugi by starting programmes to teach and enrich local languages in our universities? Why can’t I take a Bachelor of Science in Kamba, Maa, Giriama or any other Kenyan language? By  Xn Iraki, The Standard

Eight people have been injured at a pro-Israel event in Colorado after they were attacked by a man with a makeshift flamethrower and petrol bombs.

A group of people in Boulder were holding a regular demonstration to raise awareness of Israeli hostages in Gaza when they were allegedly targeted by a man who shouted "Free Palestine". He was arrested at the scene.

Four women and four men aged between 52 and 88 were injured and transported to hospitals, Boulder police said. Some of them were airlifted to hospital.

Authorities had earlier put the count of the injured at six and said at least one of them was in a critical condition. The FBI says the attack was a targeted "act of terrorism" and named the suspect as 45-year-old Mohamed Soliman from El Paso County, Colorado.

He was also taken to hospital after the alleged attack. Two senior law enforcement officials told Sky News' US partner network that Soliman is an Egyptian national who seemingly acted alone. They said he has no previous significant contact with law enforcement.

Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser said it appeared to be "a hate crime given the group that was targeted".

The White House described the suspect as an "illegal alien" who had received a work permit under the Biden administration despite overstaying a tourist visa.

A large part of downtown Boulder was cordoned off as sniffer dogs and the bomb squad searched for potential devices. 

However, police currently believe no one else was involved . Police chief Steve Redfearn said the attack happened around 1.26pm on Sunday and that initial reports were that "people were being set on fire".

He said injuries ranged from "very serious" to "more minor".

"When we arrived we encountered multiple victims that were injured, with injuries consistent with burns," Mr Redfearn told the media.

The police chief also said he did not believe anyone else was involved.

"We're fairly confident we have the lone suspect in custody," he said.

Boulder's police chief said the attack happened as a "group of pro-Israel people" were peacefully demonstrating.

The walk is held regularly by a volunteer group called Run For Their Lives, which aims to raise awareness of the hostages who remain in Gaza. 

Video from the scene showed a bare-chested man shouting and clutching two bottles after the attack. Other footage showed him being held down and arrested by police as people doused one of the victims with water. Nearby there appears to be a large black burn mark on the ground.

Brooke Coffman, a 19-year-old student, described seeing four women on the ground with burns on their legs. She said one appeared badly burned on most of her body and had been wrapped in a flag.

She described seeing a man whom she presumed to be the attacker standing in the courtyard shirtless, holding a glass
bottle of clear liquid and shouting.

"Everybody is yelling, 'get water, get water,'" Ms Coffman said.

Lady on fire 'from head to toe'

Another eyewitness, who did not give his name, said he saw the suspect throw Molotov cocktails - an improvised bomb made from a bottle filled with petrol and stuffed with a piece of cloth to use as a fuse. 

He said: "It was very strange to just hear a crash on the ground of a bottle breaking and then it sounded like a boom and then people started yelling and screaming.

"But I saw fire, I saw people screaming and crying and tripping and I saw the attacker - he had three Molotov cocktails.

"One of them he threw inside a group and one lady lit on fire from head to toe and then the other four people were also injured in the fire, but not as bad as the first one."

The eyewitness continued: "The attacker came out from the bushes and the trees... he threw another cocktail, and on the second one he lit himself on fire - I imagine accidentally.

"He seemed to have a bullet proof vest on, or some kind of vest, and then a shirt underneath it.

"And after he lit himself on fire he took off the vest and the shirt and he was shirtless.

"But he still had his Molotov cocktails in his hands ready to use them... ready to throw them and explode them on people."

Lynn Segal, another eyewitness, said: "These shoots of fire, linear, about 20 feet long, spears of fire, two of them at least, came across right into the group, about 15 feet from me."

The 72-year-old said two neighbours of hers, a husband and wife in their 80s, were at the demonstration. She added that the wife was one of the victims and appeared to be the most seriously injured.

"They're both elders in their 80s, and you can't take something like this assault to your body as easily as someone younger."

Ms Segal, who was wearing a "Free Palestine" T-shirt, said she watches the demonstrations to "try and listen" to what the volunteers are "talking about" because she is concerned about the hostages.

She added that she is concerned the attack will "divide this community".

Another eyewitness told MSNBC that he saw the suspect "lighting people on fire while spraying gasoline on them".

Brian, who is himself Jewish and askd that his last name not be made public, add that he saw victims "having their skin melt off their bodies".

A statement from Boulder's Jewish community said "an incendiary device was thrown at walkers at the Run for Their Lives walk on Pearl Street as they were raising awareness for the hostages still held in Gaza".

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, a prominent Jewish Democrat, said it was an antisemitic attack.

"This is horrifying, and this cannot continue. We must stand up to antisemitism," he said on X.

Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar said on X he was shocked by the "terrible antisemitic terror attack", describing
it as "pure antisemitism".

Boulder is a university city of about 105,000 people on the northwest edge of Denver, in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains.

The attack follows the arrest of a Chicago-born man in the fatal shooting of two Israeli embassy employees in Washington DC two weeks ago.

Tensions are simmering in the US over Israel's war in Gaza. There has been an increase in antisemitic hate crime, as well as moves by some supporters of Israel to brand pro-Palestinian protests as antisemitic.

President Trump's administration has detained protesters without charge and pulled funding from elite universities that have permitted such demonstrations. SKY NEWS