A Review of Onduko bw'Atebe's “The Verdict of Death”

Welcome to the world of prison writing. The title echoes the passing of a judgement over someone or something. Believe it or not you have to read the text to unravel the mystery behind this title. The story is curved out around the protagonist, Morii Matano, who happens to be an unlucky victim of a love gone awry. The story opens with prisoners being rushed to jail and vivid descriptions of the gory details of brutality in prison. It all seems like a movie but the events narrated in this text can easily be corroborated by the plethora of prison novels and autobiographies from Kenyan prisons.

In retrospect and through flashbacks we are indulged in the flashy lifestyles of flight attendants. Apparently Morii has been working for the Continental Airlines up to and until his subsequent arrest and imprisonment. Thus, the author conflates the events in the narrative in a way that all the details unfold at the same time – shifting from the past to the present simultaneously. This is how we savour the steamy relationship between Morii and Amina even though he is married to Susan and they have two gorgeous kids. Encased in the love web is Simon Mutua a security officer who also happens to have fallen in love with Amina – the la femme fatale goddess of the novel.

In a whirlwind of events, Mutua goes out of his way to woo Amina to love him by buying her expensive items like a smart phone and even dares to acquire for her a sports car. On his part, Morii takes advantage of his position to influence the duty roster of Amina so that their working schedules are synchronised. It is Morii who conquers her heart when they eventually cement their feelings for each other in London as they traverse the country visiting Morii’s aunt and sampling delicacies at Ling Ying’s Chinese restaurant.

Some readers may take issue with the perceived tolerance for polygamy or the suggested myth that women can only be won through money and lavish lifestyles but this is a fictional narrative. Whether it is true to reality or not the fact is that the text resonates with gender issues that will have many up in arms. Importantly, the text underscores the question of crime and punishment and indicts all of us for abdicating our social responsibility in one way or the other.

Mutua, the jilted lover, connives and implicates Morii on the theft of a passenger’s wallet and the rest is history. Morii is incarcerated and sentenced to imprisonment. It is whilst in prison that we learn the stories of similar characters like Osuka who have been unlawfully indicted to waste their lives in prison owing to disagreements with either business partners or under suspicious circumstances. The demeaning prison environment has dehumanised both the prisoners and the prison warders creating an environment conducive for violence.

Morii is eventually brutalised in an unfathomable way by Omosh and his gang. As a result, he develops a black hate for all his tormentors and passes a death verdict, vowing to kill everyone who had lend a hand in his turmoil. It is up to you to read and determine whether Morii’s verdict of death is warranted or not.