An Analysis of the Political Themes in Ayi Kwei Armahs

Novel: The Beautyful Ones Are Not Yet Born

2014

By

Eric J. Irungu
Nairobi, Kenya
E-mail:
ejiirungu@gmail.com

THE BEAUTYFUL ONES ARE NOT YET BORN

Introduction.
This is a novel written by the Ghanaian writer Ayi Kwei Armah and published in
1968. The author was born in Takoradi Ghana in 1939 and was educated at Achimota
School, then Groton School and finally at Harvard University. He worked as a translator and
scriptwriter for Ghana television and in Paris, France as translator-editor of Jeune Afrique.
He taught at the Universities of Lesotho (Lesotho) and Wisconsin (USA). This novel was the
first by Ayi Kwei Armah and its writing depicts the reality of life in Ghana in the run up to
the countrys independence and after independence until life in unsettled by the military coup
that ousted Dr. Kwame Nkrumah as the countrys president. The writer dwells on a number
of themes; corruption, poverty, prostitution and sexual immorality, drug use and alcoholism
and the great inequities in income and wealth distribution. The story is set around the main
protagonist who is simply called the man. He appears to be the embodiment of the moral
uprightness and good character that the author wishes to communicate; he is not corrupt and
has refused to get involved in its filth or gleam.
Themes and the Political Relevance
The author has extensively dealt with the theme of corruption. He alludes to this in
many instances throughout the novel. The novel opens with the man taking a trip from home
to his place of work at the railway administration. Here, the bus conductor does not give full
change and the extra money made over the normal and receipted amounts is his. The reader
is treated to the humour of the conductor smelling the note and the coins and his remark that
..strange that a man could have so many cedis pass through his hands and yet not really
know their smell. (pp. 3). There is also corruption in the citys cleanliness campaign. This is

a contrast where there is filth in a project aiming to get rid of filth in the city. Whereas the
initial plan was to place the litter boxes in strategic points in the city, it is noted that In the
end not many of the boxes were put out, though there was a lot said about the large amount
of money paid for them. (pp. 8). The Ghanaian people did not see any real change even after
the coming to power of African leaders at independence and the sons of the nation were in
charge, after all. How completely the new thing took after the old. (pp. 10).
The author goes to great lengths in pointing out how for instance traffic police
officers took bribes to allow bus drivers with expired licenses to work in a sense, the law
correcting what is unlawful. There is also the corruption attempt by a wood logger to be
allocated space to transport his timber in the train wagons. He attempts to comprise the man
but the latter refuses to take a bribe a fact that astonishes the giver. In fact, when the man
tells this to his wife Oyo, the latter is surprised at him noting that there are many things that
they need in the family and which he is not able to provide. To her, all this is like driving
along many roads. Some people get accidents while others do not get. This she alludes to
being caught.
There is also the great lament of newly appointed government officials with little
salaries but who have great material manifestations. One of these is Koomson a Minister in
Nkrumahs government. The man can only attribute the houses that are built in a short time
and the luxury vehicles bought in close succession to corruption. Koomson is the depiction of
the rot of the government of the day. He argues that there is always a way of getting around
things in Ghana when he was discussing of the proposed boat project. He alludes to Ministers
owning property through proxies to avoid detection. He also appears to despise socialism and
seems not to believe in it complaining that some people within the party were in the habit of

shouting slogans at people who were trying to acquire some property while they owned many
themselves.
The political class is depicted to have failed in Ghana. In fact right before
independence, the old lawyers and European educated elites who appeared to mimic
Europeans in their talk and mannerisms are notorious for attending meetings late while the
citizens are kept waiting in the sun for long hours. They were also saying the same things as
the white rulers and through this offered false hope to the masses. In fact after independence,
the government appeared not be serious about national issues. In fact, Koomson tells of a
story about a professor who was invited by the government to speak about the stages of
growth in a country. The gathering was bored with the presentation and were actually
sleeping through it. In the end the Attorney General rises to give a vote of thanks and
announces that they have their five stages of getting drunk as he welcomes the gathering for
drinks. He collapses immediately after, a sign of probably having reached the fifth of these
stages. Government roles are casually seen as opportunities to enrich oneself, In fact there is
a general saying among the people that one should enrich themselves from where they work.
Poverty and the general income and wealth disparities are another critical issue
addressed in the novel. Many civil servants particularly at the lower cadres can barely
survive amidst the rising cost of living. They have a common saying about the passion week
when majority of the people have exhausted their money and can barely survive. This
desperation is what appears to drive them towards corruption and other ways of getting about
the situation. The man sees al this as the great filth in the country. These are things he goes
over with the teacher, his only friend who appears to perceive things touching on the state of

the nation. He is well read and even considers the application of some foreign ideas to
Ghanas problems.
The ultimate result is the military coup that ousts Nkrumahs government. Koomson
runs to hide in the mans house and he is eventually helped to escape through the latrine
tunnel. The man had felt him smelling in his house and he feels the air around him to be
corrupted for breathing. Eventually, the mans wife seems to come around and appreciate
him for not turning out like Koomson. During his escape, he has to bribe a watchman to be
allowed passage into the harbor. As the man goes back, hiding somewhere he sees the
policemen taking bribes at a barrier and in a sense sees a continuation of the old filthy ways.
The new government according to the man would not attain much since it is not different
from the one they overthrew. It is just a new avenue to get rich by plundering public
resources. It is this sad reality that is captured in the writing on the bus whose driver gives
the last bribe that The Beautyful Ones Are Not Yet Born.
Conclusion
The realities captured in this novel have great applicability to the situation of many
other African countries. There is the reference of single party dictatorship and its associated
detention without trials to deal with political opponents, alcoholism and drug abuse to escape
the daily problems, the frustration of returned soldiers who got no form of compensation
leading to their disillusionment, the biting poverty among ordinary citizens. For instance the
man is unable to feed his family well yet some rich white people feed their dogs with more
meat than a poor family consumes in a month. The novel makes one to look at governance
issues and political realities in many countries through the ordinary persons perspective.

REFERENCE
Armah, A.K. (1968), The Beautyful Ones Are Not Yet Born. Oxford: Heinemann Educational
Publishers.