The breadth and depth of
autobiographical writing remains a tall tale that only God and the
autobiographer himself or herself can verify the veracity thereof of the story.
Every time I pick my copy of Saga McOdongo’s Deadly Money Maker to read, I find that I discover more questions
as opposed to answers. Saga McOdongo aka Judith Akinyi is known as the former
Kenya Polytechnic lecturer who turned into a drug trafficker, a prisoner, an
assumed transformed woman and now possibly a prisoner again for alleged lapse
into drug trafficking.
I choose to refer to her
autobiography as a “tale” deliberately to underscore the failure of the text to
resonate with the reader. There are too many gaps that are left wide open. Gaps
that dent holes into her perceived conversion from a drug trafficker to an
assumed redeemed one. This is especially so bearing in mind that in mid 2010
there were reports that Judith Akinyi had been caught in Italy allegedly
trafficking more drugs even after she had convincingly written her text as
testimony of her remorse and assumed change of character.
Ideally, an autobiography is
expected to help the writer bare her/his soul to the scrutiny of the reader. There
is always an assumed sense of trust that is established between the
autobiographer and the reader. When this trust is breached, then the
autobiography fails in its effort to edify the reader.
It can be argued that Deadly Money Maker breaks the bond of
trust the minute the writer chooses a surrogate author to tell her tale. The reader
becomes suspicious that the writer could be hiding something hence masquerading
and foiling her actions by using a pseudonym. It is this instance that first
raises the antennae of doubt about this autobiography.
Furthermore, actions/events in the
autobiography must in essence appear credible. Unfortunately, this is not so as
far as this autobiography is concerned. The persona comes from a relatively
well-to-do family and hence there is no justification for her to use the excuse
of money to engage in crime. At the time that she is tempted to join Queen in
her deadly money making business, the persona is the daughter of parents who
own several rental houses in Buru Buru – a middle class estate.
Her justification that she had to
do what Queen was coercing her to do albeit unknowingly is accepted with a
pinch of salt. She appears to lay blame on witchcraft but is not believable
when she says that she found herself in Pakistan without knowing what business
she was to engage in. The question thus begs, if she had already suspected
Queen to be a mysterious and dangerous person, then why did she agree to be
lured into a business partnership with her?
Other aspects that raise concern
about the autobiographical truth of her text include the exaggerated excerpts
where she makes attempts to underline her spirituality and assumed redemption. She
appears to have quickly metamorphosed and become remorseful of her actions. The
reader faults the persona as someone who might be courting for sympathy and
early release from prison. Ultimately she benefits from a presidential pardon
after serving about seven years out of the eleven she had been sentenced to
serve. Watch the story about her return to prison here: https://youtu.be/th4U2CDRdhI
She appears to manipulate the
emotions of the reader and to lay emphasis on her guilt and regret. This is
albeit the fact that she neither provides details of her husband nor his
profession and how her imprisonment affects her family. The tales that she
gives about victims of drug abuse being brought to prison and some going insane
or dying appear like contrived stories meant to draw the reader to empathise
with her and thereby hopefully forgive her. She eventually appears to have
succeeded especially when she selflessly takes care of a fellow prisoner who is
ailing from HIV/AIDS and who finally succumbs.
McOdongo dedicates a large part of
her autobiography to spiritual matters. For example she says that “I was filled
with the urge to read the Bible.” (80) As a result, she gives her life to God
and begins the spiritual journey to attain redemption. She even compares
herself to great men and women in the Bible who had fallen short of God’s glory
but later turned to Him for salvation: Paul/Saul, David, Rahab, Moses, Mary
Magdalene etc. These analogies are purposed solely to draw the reader to
identify with the persona’s wish for empathy and understanding for her fall. Like
them, she can also rise from grass to grace.
The remorse and regret exhibited in
the autobiography however does not seem to hold together owing to the
autobiographical gaps. Her confessions appear to be overtly exaggerated and her
release from prison is not talked about. On the contrary, she is slightly
humanised by her forgiveness and testimony against Queen when the latter is
tried and convicted in the US. As a result, her failure to interrogate her
criminal and prison experiences deeper leaves her autobiography dry and
brittle. Hers, thus, comes across as another “tale” from prison which may not
necessarily be believable.
It is thus not surprising to hear
reports that she might be doing another term in prison for allegedly slipping
and falling back into the very snare she had made attempts to convince the
reader that she had overcome. It is tragic and regrettable that her
autobiography would fall short of the ability to edify the reader and thereby
act as a testimony of the writer’s redemption from the shackles of crime. Does
her text pander to candour or is it just another tale?
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