Viovu vya bwana si vyema vya Juma kitwana.

 

Methali (proverb)

Viovu vya bwana si vyema vya Juma kitwana. 

The bad things of the master are not the good things of Juma, the slave.

Mohamed Said Ahmed (1974). Vito Vya Hekima Simo Na Maneno Ya Mshangao. Nairobi: Longman.

Bad people in power hinder good people doing good. Any good done can only be possible outside the realm of control of the bad master/system. That means that whenever Juma the slave does any good, it is outside the realm of influence and control of the bad master. This often is an almost impossible scenario, and that is why a keen public interest in politics and governance is necessary.

Mtwana - 1 male slave. 2 man of low class.

The aim of the proverb isn’t to naively advocate for good people being in power, but to create systems that allow the freedom of individual expression of good. Such a system requires the withdrawal of control and withdrawal of sponging-off of the economic relations of individuals by the state.

There are publicly-shared mistranslations of this proverb such as “what is bad to the master is not good to the slave”. This is an obvious mistranslation because “vya” would have to be replaced by “kwa”. ‘Vya’ is plural of ‘cha’ which means ‘of’ in the KI-VI noun class of Kiswahili.

This proverb speaks to the constraints imposed by authoritarianism on individual development. This is the thrust that has historically led to the separation of religion from state, and the consequent contemporary struggle to separate state from economy. Economic tyranny and/or exploitation, for example, monopolies, communism and globalization, have historically been state-enabled.

Altruism & slavery

Altruism is a crafty handmaiden of slavery. Altruism has many forms and variations, but its essence always remains the same. Altruism mainly holds that man has no right to exist for his own sake and that serving others is the only justification of his existence, and that self-sacrifice is his highest moral duty, virtue and value. Altruism expects men to become sacrificial objects in the service of others. The word ‘altruism’ was coined by Auguste Comte in French as ‘altruisme’, derived from Italian ‘altrui’ which in turn was derived from Latin ‘alteri’, meaning ‘other people’ or ‘somebody else’. An altruistic object is expected to perform an action at a cost to themselves (in terms of pleasure and quality of life, time, probability of survival or reproduction) in the service of benefitting another individual directly or indirectly without the expectation of reciprocity or compensation for that action.

Altruism differs from kindness in that the altruistic object isn’t allowed to become a fully developed individual with the capacity to offer proportional aid or service that doesn't subject unreasonable personal sacrifice; or fully developed to have the capacity to offer quality and necessary aid or service.

Altruism differs from love in that the altruistic object is impractically expected to “love” others without regard to those other people’s virtues and values. It is common sense that love appears from a matching in values between individuals. Therefore, altruism isn’t love at all as a matter-of-fact. The lack of regard to virtues and values is an invite for loopholes of confusion, deceit and exploitation. It is dishonesty on the part of the exploiter as well as the exploited.

 

References

Mohamed Said Ahmed (1974). Vito Vya Hekima Simo Na Maneno Ya Mshangao. Nairobi: Longman.

TUKI (2001), Kamusi Ya Kiswahili-Kiingereza; Swahili-English Dictionary. Published by Taasisi ya Uchunguzi wa Kiswahili (TUKI), Chuo Kikuu cha Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.