Shreds of Tenderness by John Ruganda

Shreds of Tenderness by John Ruganda, a Book Review
Date: July 16, 2023
Author: Múríithi wa Nyawíra
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I recently posted an excerpt from John Ruganda’s play, Shreds of Tenderness, and a myriad of reactions arose from it. Few people mentioned that despite reading the set book during the Secondary School days, they didn’t grasp a thing. It was all Greek and incomprehensible. Other people acclaimed the play as a masterpiece that they enjoyed to read. A good number were mentioning the characters their faculties could remember, such as Dr. Rugendarutakarugaruka, or Mr. No Fear No Fear, all characters played by Stella in a play within the play.

Forgive me for I will move in retrograde as you shall soon realize. Inasmuch as I also did the play for my O’levels, there was a sense in which making sense of the plot was not altogether easy. Somehow Mr. Robert Gīchoya, our teacher of English, greatly helped us digest the book, albeit vaguely, to satisfy the English Paper 3 examiners. Now, a re-reading of the book has made an interesting impression- Kagumo times nolstagia. I had to do a quick background study on the world of John Ruganda in the 70s, which seems to be the context in which the play takes shape.

The drama is set in the political landscape of Uganda. President Milton Obote was overthrown in a coup d’état by Idi Amin Dada Oumee, making him the 3rd President of Uganda. As is well known, the latter ruled an autocratic regime that saw havoc in the Republic of Uganda. Shortly after his ascension to power, he formed with the help of Israelis and later Russians the State Research Bureau (SRB), which was an intelligence agency for the entire length of his rule between 1971-1979. There were informers from all over the country who worked with and for the sham agency that caused unfathomable pain in Uganda. Many people, especially University dons, fearful of the agency, sought refuge in neighboring countries.

John Ruganda himself was among such people who in the early 1970s sought refuge in Kenya where he worked as a University of Nairobi lecturer before heading to Canada for further education. He spent his most career-life in South Africa as a professor of Literature, until his last days after diagnosis of a malignancy that he retired to his native Uganda. He is a representative of the Refugees who fled the tyranny of Idi Amin. A main character in the play, Wak, is in many ways his own representative.

It is in that light that I now contextualize the play. There are three central characters, Odie and Stella plus their step brother Wak. Their father was a Minister in the previous regime. In this case, we would assume he was the Minister in charge of Tourist in Milton Obote’s government. They were people of means, with numerous endowments as a family. We do not know much about the mother of Wak, although she might have died early on so that the three siblings were raised by the same mother. In the play, Stella and Odie’s mother is spoken of as having been sick when Wak fled the Country to spend 10 years in Kenya as a refugee. Their father had died in the hands of the tyrant as well.