A theater of fake development play
Characters
Mungai – Incumbent MP of Lari; energetic, ceremonial, obsessed with launches
The People of Lari (Chorus) – Villagers, traders, farmers, youth
Mama Nyanduma – Sharp-tongued elder
Kinale Man – Cynical farmer
Gitithia Youth – Educated, sarcastic, observant
The Budget – A silent character, always absent
The Cornerstone – A recurring symbolic object
ACT I – The First Launch
(Open field. A tent. Balloons. A brass band playing loudly. At the center: a large stone with fresh paint.)
MC (offstage): Today… history is being made!
(Cheers. Mungai enters waving vigorously.)
Mungai: My people of Lari! Development has arrived!
(Applause. The Cornerstone is revealed.)
Mungai (reading): “THIS PROJECT WAS LAUNCHED BY HONOURABLE MUNGAI.”
Chorus (whispering): What project?
Mungai: A modern road. Tarmac. Lights. Drainage. Prosperity.
Mama Nyanduma: When does construction start?
Mungai (laughing): Soon. Now. Very soon.
(Drums. Ululation. Curtain.)
ACT II – The Walking Launch
(Different village. Another tent. Another stone.)
Chorus: Yesterday Nyanduma. Today Kinale. Tomorrow Gitithia.
Mungai (energetic): Here we launch a water project!
Kinale Man: Where is the water?
Mungai: In the pipeline.
Kinale Man: Where is the pipeline?
(Silence.)
Chorus (mocking softly): He launches beginnings without middles…Promises without budgets…Stones without roads.
(Someone writes on the stone.)
Chorus: Mundû wa maheni!
(The man of ceremonies.)
ACT III – Paper Kingdom
(Office scene. Files stacked high. No workers. No machines.)
Chorus: Projects in files. Projects in speeches. Projects in air.
(Mungai stamps papers proudly.)
Mungai: This school—launched. This hospital—launched. This ICT hub—launched.
(The Budget enters silently, empty-handed, shakes head, exits.)
Gitithia Youth: Honourable, this project was launched last year.
Mungai: Yes. This is the re-launch.
Gitithia Youth: And the one before?
Mungai: That was the pre-launch.
Chorus (laughing bitterly): Mûgûrûki!
(The re-launcher.)
ACT IV – Stones Everywhere
(Stage fills with cornerstones. Roads of stones. Fields of stones.)
Chorus: Cornerstones for roads. Cornerstones for water. Cornerstones for schools. Cornerstones for trees. Cornerstones for sewers. Cornerstones for ICT hubs. Cornerstones for Wi-Fi. Cornerstones for stadiums. Cornerstones for hospitals.
(No buildings. No roads. Only stones.)
Mama Nyanduma: We eat stones now?
Kinale Man: We drink inscriptions?
Gitithia Youth: We connect to Wi-Fi written in stone?
(Laughter turns into silence.)
Chorus (slow realization): Lari is paved… Not with roads…But with lies carved in cement.
ACT V – Campaign Season
(Election posters everywhere. Mungai at every corner.)
Mungai: I have worked tirelessly!
(He points.)
Mungai: Look at development!
(Points at stones.)
Chorus: King of stalled projects. Ruler of beginnings. MP of nothingness.
Gitithia Youth (firm): Honourable, we cannot eat launches.
Mama Nyanduma: We cannot harvest cornerstones.
Kinale Man: We cannot walk on speeches.
(Mungai pauses. For the first time, uncertain.)
Epilogue – After the Applause
(Empty stage. Stones remain. No tents. No music.)
Chorus (final): Beware leaders who confuse motion with progress, noise with work, ceremonies with service. For a people impressed by launches will inherit nothing but stones.
(Lights fade on the cornerstones.)
Characters
Mungai – Incumbent MP of Lari; energetic, ceremonial, obsessed with launches
The People of Lari (Chorus) – Villagers, traders, farmers, youth
Mama Nyanduma – Sharp-tongued elder
Kinale Man – Cynical farmer
Gitithia Youth – Educated, sarcastic, observant
The Budget – A silent character, always absent
The Cornerstone – A recurring symbolic object
ACT I – The First Launch
(Open field. A tent. Balloons. A brass band playing loudly. At the center: a large stone with fresh paint.)
MC (offstage): Today… history is being made!
(Cheers. Mungai enters waving vigorously.)
Mungai: My people of Lari! Development has arrived!
(Applause. The Cornerstone is revealed.)
Mungai (reading): “THIS PROJECT WAS LAUNCHED BY HONOURABLE MUNGAI.”
Chorus (whispering): What project?
Mungai: A modern road. Tarmac. Lights. Drainage. Prosperity.
Mama Nyanduma: When does construction start?
Mungai (laughing): Soon. Now. Very soon.
(Drums. Ululation. Curtain.)
ACT II – The Walking Launch
(Different village. Another tent. Another stone.)
Chorus: Yesterday Nyanduma. Today Kinale. Tomorrow Gitithia.
Mungai (energetic): Here we launch a water project!
Kinale Man: Where is the water?
Mungai: In the pipeline.
Kinale Man: Where is the pipeline?
(Silence.)
Chorus (mocking softly): He launches beginnings without middles…Promises without budgets…Stones without roads.
(Someone writes on the stone.)
Chorus: Mundû wa maheni!
(The man of ceremonies.)
ACT III – Paper Kingdom
(Office scene. Files stacked high. No workers. No machines.)
Chorus: Projects in files. Projects in speeches. Projects in air.
(Mungai stamps papers proudly.)
Mungai: This school—launched. This hospital—launched. This ICT hub—launched.
(The Budget enters silently, empty-handed, shakes head, exits.)
Gitithia Youth: Honourable, this project was launched last year.
Mungai: Yes. This is the re-launch.
Gitithia Youth: And the one before?
Mungai: That was the pre-launch.
Chorus (laughing bitterly): Mûgûrûki!
(The re-launcher.)
ACT IV – Stones Everywhere
(Stage fills with cornerstones. Roads of stones. Fields of stones.)
Chorus: Cornerstones for roads. Cornerstones for water. Cornerstones for schools. Cornerstones for trees. Cornerstones for sewers. Cornerstones for ICT hubs. Cornerstones for Wi-Fi. Cornerstones for stadiums. Cornerstones for hospitals.
(No buildings. No roads. Only stones.)
Mama Nyanduma: We eat stones now?
Kinale Man: We drink inscriptions?
Gitithia Youth: We connect to Wi-Fi written in stone?
(Laughter turns into silence.)
Chorus (slow realization): Lari is paved… Not with roads…But with lies carved in cement.
ACT V – Campaign Season
(Election posters everywhere. Mungai at every corner.)
Mungai: I have worked tirelessly!
(He points.)
Mungai: Look at development!
(Points at stones.)
Chorus: King of stalled projects. Ruler of beginnings. MP of nothingness.
Gitithia Youth (firm): Honourable, we cannot eat launches.
Mama Nyanduma: We cannot harvest cornerstones.
Kinale Man: We cannot walk on speeches.
(Mungai pauses. For the first time, uncertain.)
Epilogue – After the Applause
(Empty stage. Stones remain. No tents. No music.)
Chorus (final): Beware leaders who confuse motion with progress, noise with work, ceremonies with service. For a people impressed by launches will inherit nothing but stones.
(Lights fade on the cornerstones.)
Curtain.
