When I recently posted an excerpt of John Ruganda’s Shreds of Tenderness, there were mixed reactions. A few people mentioned that despite reading the set book while in High School, they didn’t grasp a thing. It was all Greek and incomprehensible. Another acclaimed the play as a masterpiece that was a joy read to them. A good number were mentioning the characters their faculties can remember of Dr Rugendarutakarugaruka, or Mr. No Fear No Fear, all characters played by Stella in the play within a play.

I will move in retrograde. Inasmuch I also did the play in my O’levels, there was a sense in which making sense of the plot was not altogether easy. Somehow, Mr. Robert Gichoya helped us digest the book, albeit vaguely, to satisfy the Paper 3 examiners. So, a re-reading of the book has made an interesting impression- memories. 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. Milton Obote was overthrown in a coup d’état by Idi Amin Dada Oumee in 1971, 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 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 Uganda. He is a representative of the Refugees who fled the tyranny of Idi Amin. His character in the book, Wak, is indeed in many ways his own representative.

It is in that light that I seem to see the book. The book has three 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 of Tourist in Milton Obote’s government. They were people of means coming from an endowed family. We do not know much about the mother of Wak, but she might have died early on so that they were all 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.

In the play, Wak has just returned from exile in Kenya. His step brother begins to behave strangely. Stella, their only sister ascribes the behavior change in Odie to Mental illness for which she recommends Psychiatric evaluation. Odie is having experiments with arthropods and metes torture on the poor insects. Wak spent a few weeks away from home soon after his arrival, and a closer read shows that he spent some time going through the files of the SRB for whom his brother Odie was an informer.

There are many intricacies in the play. To develop different themes, the three characters are assigned different roles in what in school we called a play within a play stylistic device to develop the story.

ODIE was all along as an informer for SBE. He collaborated with Amin’s government. He betrayed his father who was opposed to the regime and had him killed. Later, he sold out his brother Wak who was a lecturer to the SBE whom he escaped narrowly to become a exilee in Kenya. He underwent untold suffering as a refugee. He is discriminated against and undergoes severe deprivation. His return was towards the fall of Amin after 1979 and restoration of the State.

Odie is scared and ashamed. The Liberation Army was hunting for Amin’s sympathizers and he would not escape. He had hidden his identity from Stella all along. There were times in the 10 years of separation that he had undergone mental breakdown and was admitted in a Psychiatric unit. Stella thought that the beatings Odie had received were the source of head injury and psychological sequelae. He played the victim, showing how courageous he was to stay around when ‘cowards’ like Wak fled Uganda. It turned out to be the greatest lie.

The question that seems to occupy the writer’s thought is expressed often in the early pages of the book: what makes a murderer tick. In simple terms, what makes people behave the way they do. He is supremely disturbed by the likes of Odie who betrayed kin for selfish reasons. The entire play explores possibilities of human psychology. What drives people to become who they are? How come some people are shamelessly evil? Through Odie, he makes some obvious conclusions.

First, and possibly the worst is human greed. Wak was the administrator of the father’s estate. By spying on him and having him killed, Odie would be the sole successor of the huge wealth their father left behind. He is tormented by his actions. He was sure Wak had died and kept printing an obituary in the dailies. His plan to disinherit his kin.

Sibling rivalry and family discord. Odie held grudges since childhood. He seems to have a problem with everyone from the grandmother to the father and now the siblings. As to whether he received ill treatment we do not know, but adverse childhood events are all visible. His callousness is not without historical injustices. He felt hated and looked down. That he didn’t proceed far in school was the ice in the cake.

One can write more and more, but the book is a masterpiece. A good grasp of the political landscape in East Africa in the 70s makes it way easier to understand the book too. Enjoy reading it