A Political Play About a Brain that Lost to Party and Tribal Kingpin
Characters
Narrator – Calm, sarcastic, and painfully honest.
Chorus of Loyal Voters – Loud, emotional, and proudly allergic to logic.
Gichuka Waithera – A villager with ideas and principles.
The Party Symbols – A parade of logos that speak louder than policies.
The Tribal Kingpin – Guardian of traditions, grudges, and inherited voting patterns.
Mungai – The Familiar Name; re-elected before he even campaigns.
Spirit of Poverty – Always present, always invited back.
ACT I – The Independent Decision
A village clearing in Lari. Posters everywhere. Party symbols dance proudly.
Narrator: In Lari, elections are not events. They are rituals. Repeated faithfully, without reflection. And on this particular season, one man broke protocol. His name was Gichuka Waithera. He knew Lari. He knew its paths, its people, its wounds. He also knew political parties—how they chew candidates, spit principles, and crown mediocrity. So Gichuka did the unthinkable. He refused the parties. He chose the independent road — From the word go.
Gichuka (firmly): I will not queue for nominations where ideas die and money speaks. I will walk directly to the people.
The Chorus gasps.
Chorus: Walk? Without a party? Without elders? Without rituals? This man is dangerous.
ACT II – How Lari Votes
The Party Symbols march across the stage: umbrella, fists, ears, cabbages, toilet, wheelbarrow.
Narrator: Lari does not vote leaders. Lari votes symbols. Lari votes tribal kingpins. Lari votes circumcision. Lari votes mental poverty and calls it loyalty. Lari votes white elephants.
Chorus (chanting): Show us the symbol! Show us our Kingpin! Say our clan name! Don’t confuse us with ideas!
Gichuka (softly): But what about roads? Jobs? Schools? Projects that finish?
Chorus (laughing): Ideas don’t win elections. Symbols do.
ACT III – The Brain Appears
A banner is lifted. Gichuka’s symbol is revealed: a HUMAN BRAIN. Silence. Confusion. Mild panic.
Narrator: Gichuka made his greatest mistake here. He assumed voters needed a brain to choose a leader. He forgot— In Lari, brains are optional during elections.
Chorus: What is that thing? Is it medical? Is it from our tribe? Can it shout party slogans?
Tribal Kingpin (angrily): This symbol insults us. We vote by party and region, not by brains.
ACT IV – The Great Dissociation
Narrator: Then came the final sin. Gichuka dissociated himself from the tribal kingpins. He refused to kneel. Refused endorsements built on fear.
Gichuka: I am not owned by any Kingpin. I am accountable only to Lari people.
Gasps again.
Chorus: So… who will tell us how to vote? If not the region kingpin…If not the party…
Narrator: Freedom frightened them. Thinking tired them. Responsibility offended them.
ACT V – Enter Mungai
Trumpets. Familiar posters.
Narrator: And so, Lari did what it does best. When faced with change— It chose memory.
Chorus (excited): Mungai! We know him! He disappoints us consistently!
Mungai (smiling): My people, I promise… continuity.
Spirit of Poverty (clapping): Welcome back, my friend.
ACT VI – The Aftermath
Broken roads. Idle youth. Half-built projects.
Villager 1: Why are there no jobs?
Villager 2: Why are roads worse?
Villager 3: Why is poverty still here?
Spirit of Poverty: Because you voted me back— Again.
FINAL ACT – The Loss of Gichuka
Gichuka stands alone at the edge of Githioro village.
Narrator: And that is how Lari lost Gichuka Waithera— A villager. A thinker. A man who could have changed the Lari story. He did not lose because he was wrong. He lost because he demanded thinking.
Gichuka (quietly): You didn’t reject me. You rejected responsibility.
He exits.
Narrator (final words): Lari did not lose an election. Lari lost a chance. And once again, it voted exactly the way it lives.
Curtain falls.
Characters
Narrator – Calm, sarcastic, and painfully honest.
Chorus of Loyal Voters – Loud, emotional, and proudly allergic to logic.
Gichuka Waithera – A villager with ideas and principles.
The Party Symbols – A parade of logos that speak louder than policies.
The Tribal Kingpin – Guardian of traditions, grudges, and inherited voting patterns.
Mungai – The Familiar Name; re-elected before he even campaigns.
Spirit of Poverty – Always present, always invited back.
ACT I – The Independent Decision
A village clearing in Lari. Posters everywhere. Party symbols dance proudly.
Narrator: In Lari, elections are not events. They are rituals. Repeated faithfully, without reflection. And on this particular season, one man broke protocol. His name was Gichuka Waithera. He knew Lari. He knew its paths, its people, its wounds. He also knew political parties—how they chew candidates, spit principles, and crown mediocrity. So Gichuka did the unthinkable. He refused the parties. He chose the independent road — From the word go.
Gichuka (firmly): I will not queue for nominations where ideas die and money speaks. I will walk directly to the people.
The Chorus gasps.
Chorus: Walk? Without a party? Without elders? Without rituals? This man is dangerous.
ACT II – How Lari Votes
The Party Symbols march across the stage: umbrella, fists, ears, cabbages, toilet, wheelbarrow.
Narrator: Lari does not vote leaders. Lari votes symbols. Lari votes tribal kingpins. Lari votes circumcision. Lari votes mental poverty and calls it loyalty. Lari votes white elephants.
Chorus (chanting): Show us the symbol! Show us our Kingpin! Say our clan name! Don’t confuse us with ideas!
Gichuka (softly): But what about roads? Jobs? Schools? Projects that finish?
Chorus (laughing): Ideas don’t win elections. Symbols do.
ACT III – The Brain Appears
A banner is lifted. Gichuka’s symbol is revealed: a HUMAN BRAIN. Silence. Confusion. Mild panic.
Narrator: Gichuka made his greatest mistake here. He assumed voters needed a brain to choose a leader. He forgot— In Lari, brains are optional during elections.
Chorus: What is that thing? Is it medical? Is it from our tribe? Can it shout party slogans?
Tribal Kingpin (angrily): This symbol insults us. We vote by party and region, not by brains.
ACT IV – The Great Dissociation
Narrator: Then came the final sin. Gichuka dissociated himself from the tribal kingpins. He refused to kneel. Refused endorsements built on fear.
Gichuka: I am not owned by any Kingpin. I am accountable only to Lari people.
Gasps again.
Chorus: So… who will tell us how to vote? If not the region kingpin…If not the party…
Narrator: Freedom frightened them. Thinking tired them. Responsibility offended them.
ACT V – Enter Mungai
Trumpets. Familiar posters.
Narrator: And so, Lari did what it does best. When faced with change— It chose memory.
Chorus (excited): Mungai! We know him! He disappoints us consistently!
Mungai (smiling): My people, I promise… continuity.
Spirit of Poverty (clapping): Welcome back, my friend.
ACT VI – The Aftermath
Broken roads. Idle youth. Half-built projects.
Villager 1: Why are there no jobs?
Villager 2: Why are roads worse?
Villager 3: Why is poverty still here?
Spirit of Poverty: Because you voted me back— Again.
FINAL ACT – The Loss of Gichuka
Gichuka stands alone at the edge of Githioro village.
Narrator: And that is how Lari lost Gichuka Waithera— A villager. A thinker. A man who could have changed the Lari story. He did not lose because he was wrong. He lost because he demanded thinking.
Gichuka (quietly): You didn’t reject me. You rejected responsibility.
He exits.
Narrator (final words): Lari did not lose an election. Lari lost a chance. And once again, it voted exactly the way it lives.
Curtain falls.
