A Political Satire About Voters Who Ate Their Own Development
Characters
Villager – Narrator, truth-teller, and mirror.
Mûngai – The current MP; smooth talker, master of handouts, recovering his campaign expenses.
Gacheri – A voter who sold her vote for maize flour.
Mwangi – A boda rider who sold his vote for fuel money.
Teacher Wahu – Idealistic, frustrated, tired of explaining democracy to adults.
Chorus of Voters – The people who “ate their future.”
ACT I – The Banquet Before the Famine
Scene 1: The Night of Handouts
(Lights up on a busy village night. Music. Laughter. Plastic plates. A long table with voters eating greedily.)
Villager: (steps forward, disgusted) Behold, the holy table of “development.” Rice, soda, 200 shillings, and T-shirts. Tonight, the voters are feasting like kings… because tomorrow, they will return to their normal positions— subjects.
(Gacheri eats loudly.)
Gacheri: Ati democracy is sweet! As long as it comes with cooking oil.
Mwangi: Today is the only day these politicians treat us like human beings. Let me enjoy before the famine of promises begins.
Teacher Wahu: (appears, tired) My people, do you realize what you’re doing?
Gacheri: Yes. Eating development before elections. What else?
Teacher Wahu: (shouting) You are eating your roads! Your hospitals! Your sewer lines! Your children’s classrooms!
Mwangi: (swallowing) Mwalimu, relax. Roads will be built after elections.
Teacher Wahu: By who?
Mwangi: By the same people who gave us handouts.
Teacher Wahu: (sighing) Then prepare for disappointment. Leaders don’t build roads from love—they build them from budgets. And you sold your budget for chapatis.
(A loud cheer from the voters. Teacher Wahu storms off.)
Villager: (to audience) Ladies and gentlemen, the feast of ignorance is complete. Let the famine of regret begin.
(Lights fade.)
ACT II – Three Months Later: The Collection Season
Scene 1: The MP’s Office
(A fancy office with a gold-painted sign: “Hon. Mûngai – Recovering My Investments Ltd.” Mûngai counts money.)
Mûngai: (laughing softly) Elections are like business. During campaigns, you spend. During leadership, you recover. Simple economics.
Assistant: Sir, the village is complaining about delayed projects.
Mûngai: (normal voice) Which village?
Assistant: All of them; Kinale, Nyanduma, Lari Kirenga, Kijabe and Kamburu.
Mûngai: Then let all of them wait. I spent 10 million in campaigns. Where will I get money for roads before recovering my 10 million?
Assistant: Should we visit the constituency?
Mûngai: No. They already ate their share during campaigns. Let them digest first.
(He signs a document labeled: “Roads Budget – Postponed to Next Term.”)
Lights dim.
ACT III – The Awakening of The Hunger
Scene 1: The Village Without Roads
(Mud everywhere. A stuck boda. Gacheri and Mwangi struggling.)
Mwangi: (frustrated) This road is worse than last year!
Gacheri: Maybe the government will fix it?
Mwangi: Which government? The one you sold your vote to for cooking oil?
Teacher Wahu: (enters) Let me ask you a simple question: How much maize flour did you receive during campaigns?
Gacheri: One packet.
Teacher Wahu: And how much do you think it costs to build this road?
Gacheri: …
Teacher Wahu: (angry) The value doesn’t match! You traded a 20-million-shilling road for one packet of unga.
Mwangi: But he promised development!
Teacher Wahu: You cannot eat your future and still expect it to grow. Only insane people plant nothing and expect harvest.
(The voters fall silent.)
Villager: (narrator, stepping forward) And finally, the hunger in their stomachs has reached their brains.
ACT IV – The Voters' Confession
Scene 1: Public Meeting
(The voters gather. A stage with a microphone. Mûngai arrives in a big car.)
Crowd: (unenthusiastic) Mheshimiwa…
Mûngai: (smiling) My people! How is life?
Mwangi: Terrible. No roads. No jobs.
Gacheri: No water. No medicine.
Teacher Wahu: Tell us the truth, Mheshimiwa— Where is the money for development?
Mûngai: (confident, proud) Recovering… Step by step. From you.
Crowd: (shocked) From us??
Mûngai: Yes! Did you think those handouts were free? (chuckles) My campaign was an investment. Now I am harvesting.
Villager: (to the crowd) There it is. Your truth, spoken openly. Raw. Honest. Painful. You’re not suffering because you chose a bad leader— you’re suffering because you sold your brain, and rented your future for 200 shillings.
Crowd: (murmuring in shame)
Mûngai: Anyway, let me continue recovering my money. See you next election— when you will once again sell your development for chapatis and T-shirts. (He exits.) Silence.
ACT V – The Final Warning
Villager: (center stage, lights dim except a spotlight) My people, you cannot eat handouts and expect development. You cannot vote like children and expect to be treated like adults. You cannot sell your vote and still demand services. Development is not magic. It is math. And your math does not add up. If you sell your power, you lose your voice. If you sell your vote, you buy your own suffering. And if you keep electing the price tag, you will keep paying the price. (He pauses, steps forward.)
Villager: The leader is not the problem. You are. But the good news is— you are also the solution. You can change the leader.
(Lights fade. Curtain.)
Characters
Villager – Narrator, truth-teller, and mirror.
Mûngai – The current MP; smooth talker, master of handouts, recovering his campaign expenses.
Gacheri – A voter who sold her vote for maize flour.
Mwangi – A boda rider who sold his vote for fuel money.
Teacher Wahu – Idealistic, frustrated, tired of explaining democracy to adults.
Chorus of Voters – The people who “ate their future.”
ACT I – The Banquet Before the Famine
Scene 1: The Night of Handouts
(Lights up on a busy village night. Music. Laughter. Plastic plates. A long table with voters eating greedily.)
Villager: (steps forward, disgusted) Behold, the holy table of “development.” Rice, soda, 200 shillings, and T-shirts. Tonight, the voters are feasting like kings… because tomorrow, they will return to their normal positions— subjects.
(Gacheri eats loudly.)
Gacheri: Ati democracy is sweet! As long as it comes with cooking oil.
Mwangi: Today is the only day these politicians treat us like human beings. Let me enjoy before the famine of promises begins.
Teacher Wahu: (appears, tired) My people, do you realize what you’re doing?
Gacheri: Yes. Eating development before elections. What else?
Teacher Wahu: (shouting) You are eating your roads! Your hospitals! Your sewer lines! Your children’s classrooms!
Mwangi: (swallowing) Mwalimu, relax. Roads will be built after elections.
Teacher Wahu: By who?
Mwangi: By the same people who gave us handouts.
Teacher Wahu: (sighing) Then prepare for disappointment. Leaders don’t build roads from love—they build them from budgets. And you sold your budget for chapatis.
(A loud cheer from the voters. Teacher Wahu storms off.)
Villager: (to audience) Ladies and gentlemen, the feast of ignorance is complete. Let the famine of regret begin.
(Lights fade.)
ACT II – Three Months Later: The Collection Season
Scene 1: The MP’s Office
(A fancy office with a gold-painted sign: “Hon. Mûngai – Recovering My Investments Ltd.” Mûngai counts money.)
Mûngai: (laughing softly) Elections are like business. During campaigns, you spend. During leadership, you recover. Simple economics.
Assistant: Sir, the village is complaining about delayed projects.
Mûngai: (normal voice) Which village?
Assistant: All of them; Kinale, Nyanduma, Lari Kirenga, Kijabe and Kamburu.
Mûngai: Then let all of them wait. I spent 10 million in campaigns. Where will I get money for roads before recovering my 10 million?
Assistant: Should we visit the constituency?
Mûngai: No. They already ate their share during campaigns. Let them digest first.
(He signs a document labeled: “Roads Budget – Postponed to Next Term.”)
Lights dim.
ACT III – The Awakening of The Hunger
Scene 1: The Village Without Roads
(Mud everywhere. A stuck boda. Gacheri and Mwangi struggling.)
Mwangi: (frustrated) This road is worse than last year!
Gacheri: Maybe the government will fix it?
Mwangi: Which government? The one you sold your vote to for cooking oil?
Teacher Wahu: (enters) Let me ask you a simple question: How much maize flour did you receive during campaigns?
Gacheri: One packet.
Teacher Wahu: And how much do you think it costs to build this road?
Gacheri: …
Teacher Wahu: (angry) The value doesn’t match! You traded a 20-million-shilling road for one packet of unga.
Mwangi: But he promised development!
Teacher Wahu: You cannot eat your future and still expect it to grow. Only insane people plant nothing and expect harvest.
(The voters fall silent.)
Villager: (narrator, stepping forward) And finally, the hunger in their stomachs has reached their brains.
ACT IV – The Voters' Confession
Scene 1: Public Meeting
(The voters gather. A stage with a microphone. Mûngai arrives in a big car.)
Crowd: (unenthusiastic) Mheshimiwa…
Mûngai: (smiling) My people! How is life?
Mwangi: Terrible. No roads. No jobs.
Gacheri: No water. No medicine.
Teacher Wahu: Tell us the truth, Mheshimiwa— Where is the money for development?
Mûngai: (confident, proud) Recovering… Step by step. From you.
Crowd: (shocked) From us??
Mûngai: Yes! Did you think those handouts were free? (chuckles) My campaign was an investment. Now I am harvesting.
Villager: (to the crowd) There it is. Your truth, spoken openly. Raw. Honest. Painful. You’re not suffering because you chose a bad leader— you’re suffering because you sold your brain, and rented your future for 200 shillings.
Crowd: (murmuring in shame)
Mûngai: Anyway, let me continue recovering my money. See you next election— when you will once again sell your development for chapatis and T-shirts. (He exits.) Silence.
ACT V – The Final Warning
Villager: (center stage, lights dim except a spotlight) My people, you cannot eat handouts and expect development. You cannot vote like children and expect to be treated like adults. You cannot sell your vote and still demand services. Development is not magic. It is math. And your math does not add up. If you sell your power, you lose your voice. If you sell your vote, you buy your own suffering. And if you keep electing the price tag, you will keep paying the price. (He pauses, steps forward.)
Villager: The leader is not the problem. You are. But the good news is— you are also the solution. You can change the leader.
(Lights fade. Curtain.)
