Nairobi, Kenya — The serene grounds of Entim Sidai Wellness Sanctuary transformed today into a stage of remembrance, resistance, and rebirth as the Wakati Wetu Reparations Festival opened in Nairobi. The festival themed “It’s Our Time: To Resist, Repair and Reclaim” is Africa’s first continental gathering dedicated to reparatory justice, combining art, activism, and scholarship in one powerful movement.
Convened by African Futures Lab, Baraza Media Lab, AU ECOSOCC, and Reform
Initiatives, the two-day event brings together hundreds of artists, thinkers, policymakers, and
Pan-Africanists from across the continent to reflect on the deep wounds of colonialism and to reimagine pathways toward repair.
A CALL TO REMEMBER AND RECLAIM
Keynote speaker and award-winning author Yvonne Adhiambo Owuor opened the festival with an address that silenced the hall into collective introspection.
“Reparations is first an act of moral autopsy and then moral exorcism,” she said.
“There is no repair or healing without walking into, around, and naming the wound in its fullness.”
Owuor challenged the crowd to resist the trivialization of justice through sanitized development rhetoric:
“Why would we want to integrate reparations into development—fold justice back
into the very economic model that produced injustice?”
Her voice, both poetic and searing, echoed across the hall as she declared:
“We traverse the landscapes of our shadows and shores still haunted by stilled
graves. Repair begins with the truth—to strip away all illusions so that what is being healed is the wound itself.”
Dr. Kathryn Nwajiaku-Dahou, Director of the Politics and Governance Programme, struck a
personal note with a proverb from her father that seemed to encapsulate the spirit of the gathering:
“The cup that was meant for your lips will never pass you by.”2
A CONVERSATION ROOTED IN JUSTICE
Veteran lawyer and former MP Hon. Paul Muite, who played a central role in the Mau Mau
reparations case against the British government, reminded participants that justice begins with precision and historical record:
“For reparations cases to succeed, the starting point is research—accurate records of who was who, who did what, with their names. It’s not just about those who were detained. Justice begins with truth.”
Muite reflected on the painful irony of history:
“The Mau Mau war broke out because all their efforts to get back their land were not successful. Britain responded with horrendous atrocities—torture, killings, detentions. They were all there. And yet, even after independence, the third betrayal came—from those who took over power from the colonial masters, who did not want to hear about Mau Mau or freedom fighters.”
His remarks drew solemn nods across the room, setting the tone for the legal and ethical conversations that followed.
MEDIA, MEMORY, AND THE POWER OF NARRATIVE
In a session titled “Ubuntu: Media and Memory,” journalist Ngartia Mūrūthi traced the complicity of colonial newspapers in manufacturing consent:
“For the colonial project to succeed, it had to manufacture consent. Newspapers were the biggest tools of propaganda. Kenya was advertised as a white man’s country, painting the land as empty and available.”
Media scholar Christine Mungai added that challenging such narratives requires courage:
“For a journalist, it takes bravery to go against the grain—to resist conventions and tell stories that make power uncomfortable. That courage is part of repair.”
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A RENAISSANCE OF IDENTITY
Throughout the day, speakers called for a moral and cultural awakening that reclaims Africa’s agency. Philosopher Yoporeka Somet argued that reparations begin with remembering:
“You cannot talk about renaissance if you do not know your history. If we want to talk about reparations, we must first heal ourselves by reconnecting with what we were before our story was disrupted.”3
Dr. Natasha Shivji echoed the sentiment, urging African states to take ownership of the reparations agenda:
“The language of reparations is not simply a demand on the outside world; it is a demand on the state—to organize its people, to organize history into a revolutionary platform, not a pleading for sympathy.”
ART AS RESISTANCE AND HEALING
The festival’s cultural lineup — curated under the theme “Confronting the Silence” — blended music, poetry, and film to complement the intellectual discourse.
Kenyan icon Eric Wainaina headlined the opening night concert alongside DJ Talie, Koko
Koseso, and NiK DJ, while poets and visual artists painted their reflections on walls that became living archives of resistance.
Filmmakers screened “If Objects Could Speak” and “How to Build a Library,” both probing how stolen African artifacts and erased memories still define the postcolonial psyche. Festival convener Liliane Umubyeyi, Executive Director of the African Futures Lab, reminded attendees that the event was not merely about remembrance, but renewal:
“We are here because justice is both a political and cultural question. Our shared creation has the power to renew our understanding of our place in history. The time is truly ours. Ni Wakati Wetu!”
LOOKING AHEAD: REPAIR AS REBIRTH
The festival continues through Thursday, October 23, with sessions on Tax Justice, Climate Reparations, Gendered Reparations, and a closing address by Brian Kagoro titled “Vision for the Future.” A final concert led by Sitawa Namwalie and June Gachui will mark the symbolic close of the festival’s first edition. As the African Union ushers in the Decade of Reparations (2026–2036), Wakati Wetu signals a new era — one where Africa no longer pleads for justice but defines it
