The following was written by Kenyan Charter Team member Alex Njeru and was first published on his personal blog Anjeru.com

Well a cataclysmic event happened in Kenya this week. Cataclysmic in the sense that Binyavanga Wainana a renowned Africa writer, easily one of the biggest contemporary African literature came out of the closet publicly and said he was gay saying, ‘I, Binyavanga Wainaina, quite honestly swear I have known I am a homosexual since I was five’. For those who do not know and those who need reminding Binyavanga is former Caine Prize winner for African literature. The furore and puritan condemnation mimicry it the coming has caused is still reverberating though out this  country and continent. Well in such a socially insular and puritan society such as Africa and please do forgive me for banding and treating Africa a singular socio-political unit for it is not, that is a kin to committing suicide.

I met Mr. Wainana at or around or around January 1st, we had a chat and we were even mulling over the idea of inviting him as a speaker in an oncoming libertarian conference. Albeit fleeting, I can clearly say I formed an opinion of Binyavanga, and that is that he is one of the most intellectually honest man I have seen. We did chat about libertarianism about which I told him is “Complete and consistent body of knowledge I have come to know across”. He did tell me that he did agree in principle with libertarianism but according to him, libertarianism was not “the only thing”.

Coming from him, I would say I am not the least surprised that Binyavanga has come out. This is not a man who is willing to live his life a lie. From time to time he spews out stimulating takes on the state of the world and Africa in particular about which he wrote, “How to write about Africa” a piece of work which has continued to receive rave reviews since its publication. Binyavanga quite literally does not care what this society thinks of him as an openly gay man, all that he asks is that society lets him and all others willing to out-rail from the conventional societal track are.

In his own words Binyavanga says he was spurred to come out by the recent anti homosexuality laws in Nigeria, a place he frequently visits, has many friends and is even fond of. He jokes that the next time he goes there the custom officials who clear him off for what he calls ‘conversing with a known gay man’. He was also spurred to come out by the death his friend’s (Carlotta) death and the subsequent ostracization of her family by the church and society.

In my book why Binyanga scores more and rightly deserves the medal of Valor as worrier of freedom is his unrelenting campaign to deconstruct and destroy intellectual imperialism and lack of creativity in Africa. After his coming out Binyavanga released a series of Youtube, video clips entitled, ‘We must free our imagination’. In the clips he lampoons, Africa’s artificial and acquired moral standards terming them morally boring and constrictive of imagination. As he sees it the problem with “Africa society is not that we are dying ‘it is that we are dying within the same boundaries the Mzungu (Colonialist) set.”

He says the current generation of Africans can unlock Africa’s potential by accepting that that they are in charge of ‘Africa’s fate and future’. He says that we as Africans, ‘ Can agree not to cooperate, but we agree that our ecosystem needs many kinds of things and many kinds of many kind of people and that’s not a peace deal it is a an offence, we have to go into the offence make new things.’ To him it is constrictive and conservative African society that enfeebles our every effort at development, by abhorring imagination and innovation. We are afraid of making new things because society fears new things. I must say he hits all the high notes; he riles the Kenyan system of education for its strict adherence to moral curricular-ism which makes it boring and unexciting.

Although Binyavanga is running into strong social, cultural headwinds I bet he is the best thing that happened to Africa since the television. He makes us Africans look at ourselves, and ask ourselves why it is that we see ourselves through the bifocals of social Darwinism, why we have forever acquiesced to intellectual imperial domination and why it is we think of ourselves like others think about us.

Sometime the battle of intellectual freedom will be won in Africa, we will accept and cheer on those who have different views from ourselves. It shall be won.