Ngugi wa Thiong’o’s son calls out dad for ‘physically abusing’ his mum

Mukoma wa Ngugi, the Kenyan author and son of Ngugi wa Thiong’o, has called out his father who he claimed “physically abused” his mother.

In a post via his X page on Tuesday, the 53-year-old poet, author, and academic shared a newspaper article about his mother titled ‘a novelist’s lonely wife’.

Mukoma also alleged that his mother would seek refuge at his grandmother’s house after his father “beat her up”.

He added that her silence during the alleged assault is what surprised him.

“My father @NgugiWaThiongo_ physically abused my late mother- he would beat her up,” he wrote.

“Some of my earliest memories are of me going to visit 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 it.”

My father @NgugiWaThiongo_ 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 it. pic.twitter.com/6iQ45ydI3K

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— Mukoma Wa Ngugi (@MukomaWaNgugi) March 12, 2024

Ngugi has yet to respond to his son’s allegations — as of the time of this report.

The 86-year-old is a Kenyan author and academic often described as East Africa’s leading novelist.

He was also shortlisted for the 2017 Nobel Prize in Literature award and has won a plethora of awards.

Mukoma, on the other hand, is an associate professor of literature in English at Cornell University and co-founder of the Safal-Cornell Kiswahili Prize for African Writing.

Ngugi married Nyambura in 1987. They share six children: Thiong’o, Kimunya, Nduchu, Mukoma, Wanjiku and Njoki.

Nyambura was said to have died in 1995.