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Book Review: The Sacred Passage

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April 4

The Sacred Passage

by Mwana waMusikavanhu

Genre: General Fiction / African Fiction

ISBN: 9798891320901

Print Length: 386 pages

Publisher: Atmosphere Press

Reviewed by J.B. Leddington

A political satire of the most brutal and bloody kind, Mwana waMusikavanhu's The Sacred Passage takes the newfound independence of an African nation and the unchecked power of its new Prime Minister as the starting point for an exposé of the dangerous and dramatic way in which absolute power corrupts absolutely. A shocking indictment of political corruption, greed, and complicity, it reveals in sometimes painful detail the extent to which people will go to gain and retain authority and all its trappings.

"Runo" Runobvepi has just been declared Prime Minister-elect of an unnamed African nation. "He had not shown any visible relief or the smiles of a winner. It all appeared normal for this former rebel and terrorist leader." Rather, his immediate focus is on paperwork and securing the means to ensure that he retains leadership of the Party going forward. In this regard, his wife, Lady Marunjaya, is in complete agreement. "Civilian life was not part of her plan during her life again, and the two seemed to have been cast from the same mould."

Still, Lady Marunjaya has more insight into the bigger picture than her husband, admittedly likely due to a strong sense of self-preservation rather than an altruistic impulse, recognizing that it is not only political allies and rivals who need to be kept in check: "The locals got nothing for their war scars and trauma. Their situation was never going to change except that they could sing freedom." She displays a real fear that the people, having demonstrated their anger and commitment in the recent war, might rise up again if their lives are not improved:

"There is land to nationalise and redistribute, the economy to revitalise, grow and create employment, health services, education. You are inheriting a debt of nearly $1 billion, and the list is endless."