Book Review: The Suns of Independence

Why are so many African countries considered economic basket-cases? Many an African will squarely lay the blame on 600 years of European colonialism.  Then there are writers like the late-Ahmadou Kourouma with guts enough to call a spade a spade.

In The Suns of Independence, Kourouma, who hailed from the Ivory Coast, mocks the direction that his country and its neighbours take after independence from the French. The book is the story of Fama, the last of the Dumbuya princes, who finds himself to be of little use in an independent Ebony Republic. Fama, like most members of the Malinke tribe, curse the independence and the division of their land between 2 new independent countries, the independence that gave power to a new autocratic elite. Fama's wife Salimata, the other central character in the book, is a victim of genital mutilation and brutal rape and tries all sorts of spells and magic potions from witch doctors to try and get pregnant to prolong the Dumbuya dynasty. The hard-working and sincere Salimata is the character that readers feel for.

Kourouma used the creativity of his native language and his understanding of the tribal psyche to deliver some beautiful, often sarcastic, yet hard-hitting prose. "Yes it all had to collapse, if only because the republics of the suns of independence had neglected to provide themselves with institutions such as fetishes, or sorcerers to ward off danger."

Europeans created new borders in the continent and divided members of the same tribes and clans. "So, the last of the Dumbuya introduced himself to Vassoko, spoke of the geographical boundaries of the Horodugu and the grandeur of its ruling dynasty, explained that he was ill and had to attend Balla's funeral rites. But the guard promptly replied that no one would allow Fama to pass, even if there were to dare let him through, the guards on the other side would not let him to the Republic of Nikinai." That passage sounds all so familiar for those who live in the partitioned Indian sub-continent.

The Suns of Independence provides a window to Francophone West Africa in the wake of independence and is an expression of anger from a great writer, who was deeply concerned yet felt helpless about the direction his part of the world was heading in.