A Play About Roads, Garbage, Sewers, and the Comfort of Failed Leadership
Characters
Narrator – Observant, sharp, reflective
Chorus of Lari People – Hardworking, resilient, frustrated
Mama Mboga – Market seller, practical and outspoken
Tenant – Young trader tired of clogged sewers
Gichuka Waithera – A comic aspirant for Lari MP
Ward MCA – Always unavailable, always explaining
Buroga – Master of excuses
Youth Leader – Organizes road repair groups
Woman From Kirenga – Angry but hopeful
Young Boy – Innocent observer
Voice of the Rain – Symbolic force exposing neglect
ACT I – The Shovels of Lari
Scene 1: Early Morning on a Muddy Road in Rukuma
(Sounds of heavy rain fading. Shoes sinking into mud. People struggling to walk.)
Narrator: In Lari, roads do not break during elections. They break after elections. That is when promises melt into mud.
(Enter villagers carrying shovels, wheelbarrows, stones.)
Youth Leader: Come quickly! The school bus got stuck again!
Chorus: Bring stones! Bring soil! Bring jembes!
Woman From Kirenga: Yesterday we repaired this road!
Youth Leader: And today the rain voted against us again.
(Laughter mixed with frustration.)
Narrator: From Lari/Kirenga to Kamburu… From Nyanduma to Kijabe and Kinale…The people have become their own government.
Scene 2: The Ritual
(Villagers filling potholes.)
Young Boy: Why are we doing this?
Gichuka Waithera: Because if we wait for the county or national government, your beard will grow before this road is fixed.
Chorus: Eh! True! True!
Woman From Kirenga: At least we are helping ourselves.
(Pause.)
Narrator: And that is how noble suffering becomes permanent policy.
ACT II – The Comfort of Leaders
Scene 1: The MCA’s Office
(A clean office. Tea being poured. Laughter inside.)
Ward MCA: How is the ground situation?
Buroga: Excellent.
Ward MCA: Excellent?
Buroga: The people repaired the roads themselves.
Ward MCA: Wonderful citizens.
Buroga: The traders unclogged the sewer too.
Ward MCA: Responsible people.
Buroga: And the market women collected garbage money.
Ward MCA: Development-minded voters.
(They laugh comfortably.)
Scene 2: Outside the Office
(The people struggling in mud again.)
Narrator: The leaders sleep peacefully because the people have volunteered to suffer quietly.
Tenant: We contributed money again yesterday.
Mama Mboga: We bought gloves and cleaned the market ourselves.
Tenant: The sewer blocked again this morning.
Mama Mboga: The smell now has its own address.
(Laughter.)
Tenant: Why do we keep doing government work?
(Pause.)
ACT III – The Bitter Question
Scene 1: At Nyanduma Market
(Garbage piled nearby. Flies buzzing.)
Mama Mboga: Move that cabbage away from the sewage water!
Woman From Kirenga: We should organize another cleaning day.
Gichuka Waithera: No.
(Silence.)
Chorus: No?
Gichuka Waithera: Let the garbage stay.
(Shock.)
Tenant: Mkuu… people will complain.
Gichuka Waithera: Good.
Woman From Kirenga: Children may get sick.
Gichuka Waithera: And maybe then the leaders will remember we exist.
Scene 2: The Debate
Youth Leader: But helping ourselves is unity.
Gichuka Waithera: No. It is soothing voters’ bitterness and helping leaders escape responsibility.
(Pause.)
Narrator: The words fell heavily. Like rain on iron sheets.
Tenant: So what should we do? Leave roads muddy?
Gichuka Waithera: Yes.
Mama Mboga: Leave sewers clogged?
Gichuka Waithera: Yes.
Woman From Kirenga: Allow garbage everywhere?
Gichuka Waithera: Yes, until embarrassment becomes louder and our anger with current leadership burst.
(Silence.)
ACT IV – The Rain Speaks
Scene 1: A Storm in Kamburu
(Thunder. Heavy rain. Cars stuck.)
Voice of the Rain: You covered the potholes. But you covered leadership failure too.
(Residents trapped.)
Chorus: The road is gone! The bridge is flooded!
Young Boy: Where is the MCA?
(Silence.)
Narrator: During campaigns, leaders arrive before sunrise. During floods, even their phones drown.
Scene 2: Public Anger
(Villagers gathered angrily.)
Tenant: No more contributions.
Mama Mboga: No more paying for garbage trucks.
Woman From Kirenga: No more buying stones for roads.
Youth Leader: Then what do we do?
Gichuka Waithera: We complain loudly. Publicly. Relentlessly.
Narrator: For the first time, the people discovered that bitterness can also be political language.
ACT V – The Uncomfortable Truth
Scene 1: Campaign Season Returns
(Music. Convoy arriving.)
Ward MCA: My people! My hardworking people!
(No cheers.)
Ward MCA: Why are the roads so bad?
Chorus: Because you are the leader.
(Pause.)
Buroga: Why is garbage everywhere?
Mama Mboga: Because we stopped doing your job.
Ward MCA: Why didn’t you unclog the sewer?
Tenant: We already elected people for that.
(Silence.)
Scene 2: Final Reflection
Narrator: And suddenly…the leaders became uncomfortable. The mud became political. The garbage became political. The smell became political.
Gichuka Waithera: Bitterness is dangerous only when it sleeps.
Woman From Kirenga: And dignity begins the day people stop normalizing neglect.
Final Scene
(The villagers stand silently beside a flooded road. No shovels. No wheelbarrows.)
Young Boy: Will the road be repaired?
Narrator: Eventually.
Young Boy: By who?
(Long silence.)
Chorus: By those elected to repair it.
(Thunder in the distance.)
Narrator: Lari people were never poor in strength. Only too rich in endurance.
Curtain falls.
Silence. Then distant sounds of rain… and sinking tires.
Characters
Narrator – Observant, sharp, reflective
Chorus of Lari People – Hardworking, resilient, frustrated
Mama Mboga – Market seller, practical and outspoken
Tenant – Young trader tired of clogged sewers
Gichuka Waithera – A comic aspirant for Lari MP
Ward MCA – Always unavailable, always explaining
Buroga – Master of excuses
Youth Leader – Organizes road repair groups
Woman From Kirenga – Angry but hopeful
Young Boy – Innocent observer
Voice of the Rain – Symbolic force exposing neglect
ACT I – The Shovels of Lari
Scene 1: Early Morning on a Muddy Road in Rukuma
(Sounds of heavy rain fading. Shoes sinking into mud. People struggling to walk.)
Narrator: In Lari, roads do not break during elections. They break after elections. That is when promises melt into mud.
(Enter villagers carrying shovels, wheelbarrows, stones.)
Youth Leader: Come quickly! The school bus got stuck again!
Chorus: Bring stones! Bring soil! Bring jembes!
Woman From Kirenga: Yesterday we repaired this road!
Youth Leader: And today the rain voted against us again.
(Laughter mixed with frustration.)
Narrator: From Lari/Kirenga to Kamburu… From Nyanduma to Kijabe and Kinale…The people have become their own government.
Scene 2: The Ritual
(Villagers filling potholes.)
Young Boy: Why are we doing this?
Gichuka Waithera: Because if we wait for the county or national government, your beard will grow before this road is fixed.
Chorus: Eh! True! True!
Woman From Kirenga: At least we are helping ourselves.
(Pause.)
Narrator: And that is how noble suffering becomes permanent policy.
ACT II – The Comfort of Leaders
Scene 1: The MCA’s Office
(A clean office. Tea being poured. Laughter inside.)
Ward MCA: How is the ground situation?
Buroga: Excellent.
Ward MCA: Excellent?
Buroga: The people repaired the roads themselves.
Ward MCA: Wonderful citizens.
Buroga: The traders unclogged the sewer too.
Ward MCA: Responsible people.
Buroga: And the market women collected garbage money.
Ward MCA: Development-minded voters.
(They laugh comfortably.)
Scene 2: Outside the Office
(The people struggling in mud again.)
Narrator: The leaders sleep peacefully because the people have volunteered to suffer quietly.
Tenant: We contributed money again yesterday.
Mama Mboga: We bought gloves and cleaned the market ourselves.
Tenant: The sewer blocked again this morning.
Mama Mboga: The smell now has its own address.
(Laughter.)
Tenant: Why do we keep doing government work?
(Pause.)
ACT III – The Bitter Question
Scene 1: At Nyanduma Market
(Garbage piled nearby. Flies buzzing.)
Mama Mboga: Move that cabbage away from the sewage water!
Woman From Kirenga: We should organize another cleaning day.
Gichuka Waithera: No.
(Silence.)
Chorus: No?
Gichuka Waithera: Let the garbage stay.
(Shock.)
Tenant: Mkuu… people will complain.
Gichuka Waithera: Good.
Woman From Kirenga: Children may get sick.
Gichuka Waithera: And maybe then the leaders will remember we exist.
Scene 2: The Debate
Youth Leader: But helping ourselves is unity.
Gichuka Waithera: No. It is soothing voters’ bitterness and helping leaders escape responsibility.
(Pause.)
Narrator: The words fell heavily. Like rain on iron sheets.
Tenant: So what should we do? Leave roads muddy?
Gichuka Waithera: Yes.
Mama Mboga: Leave sewers clogged?
Gichuka Waithera: Yes.
Woman From Kirenga: Allow garbage everywhere?
Gichuka Waithera: Yes, until embarrassment becomes louder and our anger with current leadership burst.
(Silence.)
ACT IV – The Rain Speaks
Scene 1: A Storm in Kamburu
(Thunder. Heavy rain. Cars stuck.)
Voice of the Rain: You covered the potholes. But you covered leadership failure too.
(Residents trapped.)
Chorus: The road is gone! The bridge is flooded!
Young Boy: Where is the MCA?
(Silence.)
Narrator: During campaigns, leaders arrive before sunrise. During floods, even their phones drown.
Scene 2: Public Anger
(Villagers gathered angrily.)
Tenant: No more contributions.
Mama Mboga: No more paying for garbage trucks.
Woman From Kirenga: No more buying stones for roads.
Youth Leader: Then what do we do?
Gichuka Waithera: We complain loudly. Publicly. Relentlessly.
Narrator: For the first time, the people discovered that bitterness can also be political language.
ACT V – The Uncomfortable Truth
Scene 1: Campaign Season Returns
(Music. Convoy arriving.)
Ward MCA: My people! My hardworking people!
(No cheers.)
Ward MCA: Why are the roads so bad?
Chorus: Because you are the leader.
(Pause.)
Buroga: Why is garbage everywhere?
Mama Mboga: Because we stopped doing your job.
Ward MCA: Why didn’t you unclog the sewer?
Tenant: We already elected people for that.
(Silence.)
Scene 2: Final Reflection
Narrator: And suddenly…the leaders became uncomfortable. The mud became political. The garbage became political. The smell became political.
Gichuka Waithera: Bitterness is dangerous only when it sleeps.
Woman From Kirenga: And dignity begins the day people stop normalizing neglect.
Final Scene
(The villagers stand silently beside a flooded road. No shovels. No wheelbarrows.)
Young Boy: Will the road be repaired?
Narrator: Eventually.
Young Boy: By who?
(Long silence.)
Chorus: By those elected to repair it.
(Thunder in the distance.)
Narrator: Lari people were never poor in strength. Only too rich in endurance.
Curtain falls.
Silence. Then distant sounds of rain… and sinking tires.
