An Examination of Post-Independence Failures in Uganda as Represented in Moses Isegawa’s Abyssinian Chronicles

Abstract

Postcolonial crisis, failures, confusion, absurdities and pain have continued to provoke debate in Ugandan literature. Poets, dramatists and novelists have all tried to reveal the effects of colonialism on Africa and written about the selfishness, tyranny, dictatorship and corruption of the post-independence leaders of colonial powers. Moses Isegawa’s novel Abyssinian Chronicles is one of those works of art that interweaves personal narratives and issues of post- independence pain, failures and confusion in postcolonial Uganda. The novel tells a story of the arbitrariness of the life of characters due to the selfishness, incompetence, inadequacies and hypocrisy of the first generation of leaders after colonialism. In this paper, we argue that the failures of the post-independence regimes had far reaching consequences on the individuals, family and society at large. However, the eventual triumph of the protagonist signifies the unwavering African spirit that endures to the end. Qualitative research approach. Textual analysis methodology was used to come up with the findings. Post-colonial theory tenets were applied for a better understanding of the primary text.