As Prof. PLO Lumumba is being sued for plagiarism top Kenyan poet has been exposed as a serial plagiarist of international women poets (Screenshot)
Kenyan poet Redscar McOdindo K’Oyuga is facing several allegations of plagiarizing the works of other poets.
A literary blog The Missing Slate brought to public the damning accusation on its site in press statement released over the weekend on 8th October. The blog was responding to allegations it had received after it published a poem submitted by Redscar ‘ a dua for the masses’ on September 28th as their Poem for the Week.
It was found that Redscar had indeed plagiarized with few alterations the work of another poet Zanzooba Magdoos whose untitled poem was first published in The Feminist Wire. This prompted the journal to ask him to respond to the allegations before the poem was withdrawn. However, further investigation revealed that he was a ‘serial plagiarist’. He was found to have done the same thing with three other poems of female poets. Here part of the press release
‘Unfortunately, subsequent investigations by our editors have left us with little doubt that Redscar McOdindo K’Oyuga is a serial plagiarist. In the last month alone, Redscar’s blog has published at least three poems plagiarised (typically with only minor alterations) from the work of other poets. In each case, the original poem belonged to a female writer of colour.
A poem by Hamdi Khalif entitled ‘Her Value Lies in Her Vagina’ (originally posted on December 4th, 2015) was plagiarised without acknowledgement on Redscar’s personal blog in September 2016.
A version of another Hamdi Khalif poem, ‘Pain and Pleasure’ (originally posted on September 16th, 2015), also appeared on Redscar’s blog in the same month.
A plagiarised version of Chandini Santosh’s ‘From This Side of the Border’ (first published in the Bangalore Review, November 2013) appeared on Redscar’s blog in the same week. Access to the blog has subsequently been restricted.
It seems likely that further research will reveal additional incidences of plagiarism, and we feel that we’ve been left with no option other than to make this information public. Further action will follow after careful consultation with the writers and editors involved.’
Here is the full press statement.
It had been a great year for Redscar who had won two poetry prizes one at the Nyanza Literature Festival where he won 100,000/- and also the Okot p’Bitek Poetry Prize where he won 50,000/-. He had come third in the Babishai Poetry where his submission had also been a favorite.
He had created a following on his blog and had many looking up to him. However, the revelations have seen him close his social media accounts and his blog is inaccessible. Many in the literature community in Kenya have and elsewhere have expressed their disappointment in strong words and condemned him for his actions.
Here is a screenshot comparing his poem and the one he plagiarized as shared by The Missing Slate
A comparison of Zanzooba Magdoos’ original poem (above) and a poem purporting to be the work of Redscar McOdindo K’Oyuga (below)
