A Satirical Play About Memory Loss, Handouts, and the Fear of Real Change
Characters
Villager – The narrator; the only working brain in Lari.
Chorus of Lari Residents – Collective voice of the forgetful masses.
Mungai – The man whose touch kills every project, yet is loved like a harmful pet.
Gichuka Waithera – The quiet builder; the “angel they do not know.”
Kamono – A die-hard Mungai defender; loves handouts more than progress.
Nyina wa Bursary – A parent who supports anyone promising “just 2,000 for school fees.”
Chairmen of Ghost Projects – Shadows of collapsed societies Mungai once led.
ACT I – The Disease of Forgetfulness
Scene 1: The Nyambari Market
(Lights up on Nyambari market. Bodabodas pass. Roasted maize smoke rises. The Chorus hums like a community with a shared infection.)
Villager: Welcome to Lari—the land where memory got up one morning, took tea, and never came back. A land where mistakes are repeated with religious devotion. Here, forgetfulness is not a symptom. It is a culture. A tradition. A love language. Today, we discuss the one man who keeps getting elected— Even though everything he touches dies like a cursed plant.
(Enter Mungai, waving like a celebrity whose scandals are blessings.)
Chorus: (cheering without thinking) Mungai! Mungai! Our chairman! Our king! Give us handouts and the past will not sting!
Villager: You see? Lari has dementia— but self-inflicted. Let me remind you. Mungai was chairman of Kírûirû Cattle Dip— He killed it. Chairman of Mbau-ini Pyrethrum Farmers Society— He ate it. Chairman of Bathi Water— He dried it. Chairman of Githirioni Road Works— He paved nothing but excuses. Chairman of Kinale Boda Shades— Shoddy structures that fear the wind. Chairman of Magina Market— A ghost project. And yet…
Chorus: (as if hypnotized) “Kaba ngoma íría tûí…” Better the devil we know.
Villager: (throws hands in despair) This is not “better the devil we know.” This is “the devil who destroyed everything and is sharpening his tools again.”
ACT II – The King of Ruins Returns
Scene 1: Mungai’s Speech of Nothingness
(Mungai climbs a shaky borrowed podium. The podium collapses slightly—symbolic.)
Mungai: People of Lari! My loyal beneficiaries of suffering! I have returned to continue the work I started.
Villager: Which work? The destruction? The unfinished? The vanishing funds?
(Enter Kamono, chest out like a personal bodyguard to failure.)
Kamono: Quiet, Villager! Mungai gives us things! He gave me a 500 shilling note last year. It changed my life.
Villager: How? Did it buy fertilizer? Education? A future?
Kamono: No… but it bought me makombe and unforgettable joy.
Villager: (sighs deeply) Joy that destroyed your reasoning.
Mungai: As your leader, I promise more… “projects.” (Laughs knowingly.) You know what that means.
Chorus: (cheering) Handouts! Handouts! Our memory is yours— just give us something small!
ACT III – The Man They Do Not Know
Scene 1: Gichuka Waithera’s Entrance
(Lights shift. Gichuka Waithera enters quietly, carrying blueprints and integrity—things foreign to political rallies.)
Villager: This is Gichuka Waithera— the man who starts and finishes. The man who respects standards. The man who doesn’t clap for shoddy roads, broken boreholes, and painted schools that still lack learning motivation. He is not here to build a name— He is here to build Lari. But… Lari fears builders. They love entertainers.
Gichuka: People of Lari, we deserve better. I cannot dig new boreholes while the old ones are dry. I cannot issue bursary without confirming school fees balances. I cannot fund groups that do nothing for your livelihoods. We must rise. We must think. We must choose progress over handouts.
(The crowd falls silent—thinking is painful.)
Nyina wa Bursary: But… will you give me 2,000 for school fees today?
Gichuka: No. I will fix the system so your child never lacks again.
Chorus: (terrified) Aiii! That sounds like work. We prefer handouts. They make us feel… empowered.
ACT IV – The Battle of Memory Vs. Common Sense
Scene 1: The Smear Campaign
(Mungai whispers to his allies.)
Mungai: This Gichuka is dangerous. He wants things to function. If things function, where will corruption hide? Where will we eat? Where will I pretend to lead? Release the rumors!
(Kamono and Nyina wa Bursary begin whispering loudly.)
Kamono: I heard Gichuka is too strict.
Nyina wa Bursary: I heard he checks project standards. Who wants that stress?
Chorus: (chanting) We want leaders who let us sleep! Not leaders who wake up early to work!
Villager: And that is how Lari rejects reform— Not because reform is bad, but because mediocrity is relaxing.
ACT V – The Villager Speaks Truth They Do Not Want to Hear
Scene 1: Final Monologue
(Lights dim. The Villager steps forward.)
Villager: People of Lari, listen. Your problem is not Mungai— It is your memory. You forget his disasters because he buys your silence with crumbs. You ignore his failures because you enjoy familiar suffering. You call him a leader, yet his resume is a cemetery of collapsed projects. Meanwhile, Gichuka Waithera—The man who could lift you— You mock him. Fear him. Reject him. Simply because he refuses to bribe your forgetfulness. Remember this: If a community elects failure knowingly, it deserves every pothole, every incomplete borehole, every unfinished market, every collapsed society. And until Lari chooses vision over handouts, hope over habit, builders over entertainers— Mungai will always win. Because he is not the problem. Your forgetfulness is. You forget his past failures.
(Curtain falls. Silence. Then the sound of handouts rustling.)
Characters
Villager – The narrator; the only working brain in Lari.
Chorus of Lari Residents – Collective voice of the forgetful masses.
Mungai – The man whose touch kills every project, yet is loved like a harmful pet.
Gichuka Waithera – The quiet builder; the “angel they do not know.”
Kamono – A die-hard Mungai defender; loves handouts more than progress.
Nyina wa Bursary – A parent who supports anyone promising “just 2,000 for school fees.”
Chairmen of Ghost Projects – Shadows of collapsed societies Mungai once led.
ACT I – The Disease of Forgetfulness
Scene 1: The Nyambari Market
(Lights up on Nyambari market. Bodabodas pass. Roasted maize smoke rises. The Chorus hums like a community with a shared infection.)
Villager: Welcome to Lari—the land where memory got up one morning, took tea, and never came back. A land where mistakes are repeated with religious devotion. Here, forgetfulness is not a symptom. It is a culture. A tradition. A love language. Today, we discuss the one man who keeps getting elected— Even though everything he touches dies like a cursed plant.
(Enter Mungai, waving like a celebrity whose scandals are blessings.)
Chorus: (cheering without thinking) Mungai! Mungai! Our chairman! Our king! Give us handouts and the past will not sting!
Villager: You see? Lari has dementia— but self-inflicted. Let me remind you. Mungai was chairman of Kírûirû Cattle Dip— He killed it. Chairman of Mbau-ini Pyrethrum Farmers Society— He ate it. Chairman of Bathi Water— He dried it. Chairman of Githirioni Road Works— He paved nothing but excuses. Chairman of Kinale Boda Shades— Shoddy structures that fear the wind. Chairman of Magina Market— A ghost project. And yet…
Chorus: (as if hypnotized) “Kaba ngoma íría tûí…” Better the devil we know.
Villager: (throws hands in despair) This is not “better the devil we know.” This is “the devil who destroyed everything and is sharpening his tools again.”
ACT II – The King of Ruins Returns
Scene 1: Mungai’s Speech of Nothingness
(Mungai climbs a shaky borrowed podium. The podium collapses slightly—symbolic.)
Mungai: People of Lari! My loyal beneficiaries of suffering! I have returned to continue the work I started.
Villager: Which work? The destruction? The unfinished? The vanishing funds?
(Enter Kamono, chest out like a personal bodyguard to failure.)
Kamono: Quiet, Villager! Mungai gives us things! He gave me a 500 shilling note last year. It changed my life.
Villager: How? Did it buy fertilizer? Education? A future?
Kamono: No… but it bought me makombe and unforgettable joy.
Villager: (sighs deeply) Joy that destroyed your reasoning.
Mungai: As your leader, I promise more… “projects.” (Laughs knowingly.) You know what that means.
Chorus: (cheering) Handouts! Handouts! Our memory is yours— just give us something small!
ACT III – The Man They Do Not Know
Scene 1: Gichuka Waithera’s Entrance
(Lights shift. Gichuka Waithera enters quietly, carrying blueprints and integrity—things foreign to political rallies.)
Villager: This is Gichuka Waithera— the man who starts and finishes. The man who respects standards. The man who doesn’t clap for shoddy roads, broken boreholes, and painted schools that still lack learning motivation. He is not here to build a name— He is here to build Lari. But… Lari fears builders. They love entertainers.
Gichuka: People of Lari, we deserve better. I cannot dig new boreholes while the old ones are dry. I cannot issue bursary without confirming school fees balances. I cannot fund groups that do nothing for your livelihoods. We must rise. We must think. We must choose progress over handouts.
(The crowd falls silent—thinking is painful.)
Nyina wa Bursary: But… will you give me 2,000 for school fees today?
Gichuka: No. I will fix the system so your child never lacks again.
Chorus: (terrified) Aiii! That sounds like work. We prefer handouts. They make us feel… empowered.
ACT IV – The Battle of Memory Vs. Common Sense
Scene 1: The Smear Campaign
(Mungai whispers to his allies.)
Mungai: This Gichuka is dangerous. He wants things to function. If things function, where will corruption hide? Where will we eat? Where will I pretend to lead? Release the rumors!
(Kamono and Nyina wa Bursary begin whispering loudly.)
Kamono: I heard Gichuka is too strict.
Nyina wa Bursary: I heard he checks project standards. Who wants that stress?
Chorus: (chanting) We want leaders who let us sleep! Not leaders who wake up early to work!
Villager: And that is how Lari rejects reform— Not because reform is bad, but because mediocrity is relaxing.
ACT V – The Villager Speaks Truth They Do Not Want to Hear
Scene 1: Final Monologue
(Lights dim. The Villager steps forward.)
Villager: People of Lari, listen. Your problem is not Mungai— It is your memory. You forget his disasters because he buys your silence with crumbs. You ignore his failures because you enjoy familiar suffering. You call him a leader, yet his resume is a cemetery of collapsed projects. Meanwhile, Gichuka Waithera—The man who could lift you— You mock him. Fear him. Reject him. Simply because he refuses to bribe your forgetfulness. Remember this: If a community elects failure knowingly, it deserves every pothole, every incomplete borehole, every unfinished market, every collapsed society. And until Lari chooses vision over handouts, hope over habit, builders over entertainers— Mungai will always win. Because he is not the problem. Your forgetfulness is. You forget his past failures.
(Curtain falls. Silence. Then the sound of handouts rustling.)
