The African continent faces numerous challenges. It is evident in the high level of human trafficking, poverty, wars, and xenophobic attacks. News channels are filled with painful narratives of how thousands of Africans risk their lives to cross the Mediterranean to Europe on rickety boats and ships that often capsize and drown. They pass through unsafe Libya, a country ravaged by a war that should not have occurred in the first place. The story of the African man remains sad and painful, despite several years of independence and self-governance. There is no better place to get a full view of such a story than the novel Certificates of Doom by David Onjala.
Certificates of Doom traces the hopeless life of a young African man named Kepha. Kepha works at Aviation, a middle-level college, as a tutor. The work environment of the college is exploitative and autocratic. Employees work several hours, yet the pay is less than that of unskilled workers.
Additionally, the college is run by quacks who hire ineligible tutors. Things get worse when the college gets embroiled in a scandal known as "Certificates of Doom." Investigators discover that Aviation's tutors sell exams to students and take bribes to manipulate their grades. The unfolding of these malpractices makes students leave Aviation in droves. Work conditions become worse for Kepha and his colleagues since the scandal worsens the college's financial situation.
Kepha and most colleagues must stay in Aviation despite the unbearable employment conditions. Job opportunities are scarce out there.
Later, Kepha resigns due to the failure of Aviation’s administration to take action against a colleague who disrespects him. Life gets more challenging as Kepha fails to find another job, and his writing work does not pay well.
Beside Aviation, Kepha has a challenging matrimonial life. Even though he is married, he does not want to have children. Kepha feels that his poor living conditions and this doomed country do not warrant bringing another life into this world. Later, traditions make him bow to the social demand of a child after marriage.
Kepha has a strained relationship with his wife, Selina. Unfortunately, this is the same situation that all married men in his circle face. His elder brother’s wife left because he was unemployed. Since then, Micah is not in a hurry to get married again. His younger brother, Michael, who is also unemployed, holds no dream of ever marrying.
Certificates of Doom support Marvin Harris’ theory of cultural materialism by showing how the African culture changes due to poor economic conditions. Kepha does not want a child, yet having a child after marriage is customary. The novel also challenges feminism, informing it that it is time it turned its focus on women since they also need a significant change in their perception of gender. Women are failing to rise to fill the traditional roles of men.
Please read it. You will love it.
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