EKSU Bank of Africa (EBA)

 

Cast  
Animal Characters with Anthropomorphic features

v  Lion Leonine

v  Lioness Leonine

v  Cub Leonine

v  Tortoise

v  Reptila Lizarae

v  Eleph- parchydermia

v  Chameleonus

Human Characters

v  Frust (from the word ‘Frustration’).

v  Goblin

v  Grump

v  Manager

v  Police officers (1 & 2)

v  Strangers (1 & 2)

v  Security

v  A lady

v  Men in black

v  A voice

Prologue

                                               

                                    Firsts Motion-Page

Enters Frust from one corner of the stage. He walks in fury howling and kicking very miserably.

Frust: /grumbles very sheepishly/
Goblin: what’s the matter with thee Frust?
Frust: a fork! A fork!
Goblin: what fork?
Frust: I need a fork for that big name Union of a Base Australopithecal curmudgeon!!!
Goblin: speak not in the tongues of the dead as of the semiotic graphs or the Sanskrit of the
              mundane oldish.
Frust: /flings himself to and fro, more furiously/ stupid things!
Goblin: Frust?!
Frust: empty hogs, with pelican mouths and disastrous bellies
Goblin: Frust?!
Frust: bird-brain cyborgs and poikilothermic species of parasitic viruses
Goblin: Frust?!
Frust: An ancient wishy-washy family of clad baboons- apes in suits and donkeys in
            shoes.
Goblin: Frust?!
Frust: A sect of parliamentary fools, congeries of omens which by an antediluvian scry-
            shall serve as STDs and ulcerous boon to futurity lights.
Goblin: Frust?
Frust: what!!! /There is silence for awhile/.
Goblin: what is it that troubles you?
Frust: the Unfaithful cyanophyta Barbarians of an Asp.
Goblin: who?
Frust: You mean who or what?
Goblin: okay, who or what.
Frust: the United Bad-luck of Africa.
Goblin: UBA?
Frust: Yes, UBA: Ungraceful Boors and Apollyons.
Goblin: why all this?
Frust: out of service!!!
Goblin: UBA?
Frust: out of service!!!
Goblin: the bank?
Frust: out of service!
Goblin: or the staff of the bank?
Frust: out of service!
Goblin: I’m confused, my dear friend. Who or what has been out of service?
Frust: everything and everybody.
Goblin: Such as?
Frust: the bank, the workers, the machines- the ATM- the bricks, glasses, gates,
            internal appliances, every body et cetera, everything, et cetera.
Goblin: but how come?
Frust: see, there is no time for how how has been how. Give me the devil’s fork that I may
               stake them all.
Goblin: need you not a Molotov cocktail?
Frust: very wise of you!  In fact, that should do for another Casino orgy of some Boko-Haram
            kamikaze guillotine ops.
Goblin: wait a minute Frust: you seem too frustrated.
Frust:  mighty pestered!
Goblin: how come?
Frust: I will tell you. / He ahems as he begins/
            Shrunk was I just the morning (some unimaginable hours) after which the debauch sages
            of the school had failed their obligations to cure our perplexities. As it occurred, hunger
            and fatigue had nearly got me demented. And so very quickly, I left straight to           
            Hell-UBA to withdraw just N500. But of a truth, I couldn’t, since a thousand had new
            become the very least amount three of the ATMs were instructed to dispense, while
            the very last one, ordered to dispense N500, as th least amount, was on vacation…
Goblin: /soliloquy/ but why should the N500 option still be part of those instructed to dispense
              N1000 as the least amount?
Frust: Soon afterwards, I started out to the Zenith -hell-hole of a- bank to fornicate (for I shall
            not say ‘to withdraw’), since my shameless UBA husband of a bank (worthless,
            shameless and valueless) had already been ‘Unreasonably Bootless and Austere’. So,
            getting there, (to Zenith bank), I slotted my card, expecting a cool hot dosh. But alack!
            The idiot said, ‘transaction complete’, without even giving me my N500. You know how
            distant the UBA is from the Zenith, aside gauging the distance by the charring sun ray of
             Iworoko. Despite the hot sun, which nearly got me fainted, as a result of the banbi
             -Allah sort of a walk I did embrace that hour, I still had to walk back to that /stammers/
            that…/covers his face, nods, and stammers/ that…that…/covers his face/ oh Jacob! You
            should have seen the way I was pirouetting like one covetous rat that just came out of a
            pool of whisky. Anyway, I actually got back to my husband, not to withdraw this time
            but to kvetch! After my complaint, he the tied and coated son of an ape wouldn’t even
            look at me or care for me…too proud and ugly..! He said, ‘come back after twenty four
            hours!’ Kai, my damned soul! Didn’t they complicate the whole issue when they made
            N1000 the least, for most of the ATMs, leaving one wrecked, death-ripe ATM for N500.
            We are not workers, for Christ sake, but students, undergraduates. Most of us live far
            away form campus. With what did he expect me to transport back home: a Wicca’s
            magic broom stick? Maybe he does need know that my legs are not made of a tractor
            -trailer’s. This thing I’m telling you is just a little grievous recount of their effluvia, I
            confess. Come meet the old tortoise on Monday and you will see what his sage is like.
            What has he put in and out! They are all out of service. They all go out of service when
            we are always giving our services to him. Too Brutish!
Goblin: British?
Frust: anyhow…all join.
Goblin: anything more about UBA?
Frust: Unable to dispense cash!
Goblin: the bank?
Frust: unable to dispense cash!
Goblin: the staff of the bank?
Frust: unable to dispense cash!
Goblin: the ATM?
Frust: unable to dispense cash!
Goblin: the bricks and glasses?
Frust: unable to dispense cash!
Goblin: the gate man and the piteously porous gate?
Frust:  (those capitalist’s helots) unable to dispense cash!
Goblin: /bewildered/ so the UBA be the poorest and wretchedest?
Frust: correct!
Goblin: avaricious but stingy.
Frust: correct!
Goblin: too old, capitalistic and wicked
Frust: correct!
Goblin: and that’s it?
Frust: at least you should make ready to pay either N500 or N1000 for just a leaf of the
             withdrawal booklet, if you did lost yours or forgot to bring it.
Goblin: /jockeying him/ you don’t mean it.
Frust: That’s just the least. You want to know UBA, Zenith, Access here, fix your navigation to
             Mondays, though the other days might not be excluded because surprises are not
             wanting thereat. But basically, the ATMs… /taps his temple/.
Goblin: so if the ATMs are just a congeries of Tokunbos, worm-eaten jalopies, out of service or
               unable to dispense cash it, means the bankers too are the same.
Frust: aye (all join).
Goblin: Now I see why you have raised such an Umpteen Ballistic upon the Acronym.
Frust: correct!
Goblin: alright, what shall we do?
Frust: unleash a curse upon it!
Goblin: by thunder or lightning?
Frust: anything me dear, anything!
Goblin: well, maybe we purge (as a display of mercy).
Frust: Tut! Tut! Tut! They show none when they sit under their snowy cave while we
             stand under the sun, out of service!
Goblin: so, does this imply we make the workers out of service plus the bank?
Frust: no! That shall be worse still.
Goblin: then what shall we do?
Frust: thou art a demon. Thou knowest what to do.
Goblin: what?
Frust: Torment them! Torment them!
A voice: Thou art an accursed buffoon, Frust. Dost thou not know that it is he the self-same
                Goblin which is charged for disturbing thee and the other customers?
Frust: what! /turns to the gob/ehn, ehn!  So you are the oun ta se ti ile fi jo no eh?
Goblin: what?
Frust: you want to play the trickster. Thou fiendish goblin! Eh?
Goblin: for what?
Frust: do not wonder wards, I shall kill you all by myself!
Goblin: why the sudden change?
Frust:  you shall sit there only to watch and see as your happy children breed this evil
             record and at the same time, loose their fame and worship.
             Watch and see as we put them out of service and marry ourselves to other
             matured banks.
             Watch and see as we refuse to dispense our cash to them- the most highly kingly
             reckoned Useless Bank of Africa. /As he attempts to catch the goblin, the goblin freezes
             him. He only regains consciousness, when the goblin has left the stage/.
Frust: /bewildered/ what happened to me?

                                                Curtain closed

                                    Second Motion page
/There is a public toilet by one side of the stage. Two men rush out of a little house from the other side of the stage and try compete for the toilet/.

Frust: what’s that you are holding
Grump: my ticket to Bombey.
Frust: Bombey? Don’t tell me you are going to that toilet over there.
Grump: Of course, and don’t think about it because it’s got to be monopolized all but by me.
Frust: I see /both rush off to the toilet and bang/
both: who is inside?
Manager: I
both: you, who?
Manager: I said I, idiots? (Growls).
 Frust: You better get out of there fast before I…
Grump: you mean, before I… /patting his buttocks/
Frust: /ignores him/ …before I explode everything here.
Manager: you’re free to come in and eat my shit, gall-gaud!
Frust: You’re waiting time. Open up!
Manager: out of service.
both: what!                 Frust: o God!
                                    Grump: shit!
Frust: what’s your problem in there? Uhn!
Manager: I’m unable to dispense;
both: unable to dispense?
Grump: are you okay at all?
Manager: I’m having Jedi.
Frust: so you are out of service
                      unable to dispense
                      jedi, uhn?
Manager: o yeah!
Frust: o Abraham, Isaac & Jacob! You’re such a regal pain in the ass
Grump: /bends down holding his stomach screams/ yeah!
Manager: who is that?
Frust: a pregnant woman.
 Manager: what? A pregnant woman?
Frust: yes, a pregnant woman. Right now, she is so pressed that she needs to give birth.
Grump: you imbecilic hog!
Frust: carrot-head.
Grump: gluttonous heifer.
Frust: hungry calf
Grump: how dear you?
Manager: but that’s a man’s voice.
Both: keep shut and do quick!
Manager: /after a short silence/ do you realise whom you are speaking with?
Frust: o yes, a monkish goblin dieing in a john of an acidulous monastery.
Manager: may God punish you!
Frust: and you too…
Manager: feed you with maggots.
Frust: back to the sender.
Grump: All of you shut up! I want to defecate here. Please
Manager: you can do that outside, naughty bag of fufu.
Grump: so you think you can talk ehn?
Manager: yes of course, as long as I’m the manager of this toilet right now.
Frust: common Grumpy, we waist too much time here. Go and get me that gargantuan sledge
            hammer, so that we can break the damn door upon his shit face.
Grump: You mean the one we use for breaking  rocks?
Frust: exactly
Grump: But I won’t be able to carry it.
Frust: why not?
Grump: my faeces have almost got to the pick of my bom-bom and if I should bend much to lift
                it with much energy, I may pooh on my pant.
Frust: Lazy louse!
Grumpy: same to you.
Frust: okay, stay here and keep close tabs on the rotten doughnut, while I bring the hammer.
            Just don’t let him escape /goes into the room to the room to bring the hammer/.
Grumpy: copy that!
Manager: what are you boys trying to do?
Frust: you wait and see /drags the hammer/.
Grump: now the saviour is come
Frust: Jesus Christ! This thing is too heavy.
Manager: I warn you. It’s better you bear with me till am settled.
Grumpy: for how long?
Frust: you leave him alone. I’m coming right there not to only break the toilet, but to also smash    
            him to pieces, so that even his fossils will never be seen for countless years, not even the
            three- star palaeontologist would ever get to know it.
Manager: Please, don’t do that. I beg you don’t break this thing, that God may pardon
                   breaking you.
Grumpy: fairy tales /Frust gets to the door and attempts to break it/.
Frust: help me Grump. /they lift the hammer and hit it upon the door. There is a blast of the
            manager’s fart, including an expulsion of faeces. This generates a very fetid odour which
            chases the two away/.
Both: /covering their nose/ uuuhm! Run!
Grump: I’m nearly asphyxiated.
Frust: let us leave the fool to die in his sins. /The both leave the toilet door/.
Grump: /spits/ toil and rot in that toilet, rotten carcass!

                                                Curtain close

The next day at Frust’s House

Frust: /singing as he eats his acqua-mixed garri/
           Ebi o eyi pe payan
           Ebi o eyi pe payan.
           {It does not take long till hunger kills one}.  /Enters Grump with a very sad look on his
            face/.
Grump: /exclaims suddenly like a pin-pricked, sorrow-stricken Igbo-business man, who just lost
               his goods/. CHAI!!!
Frust: What is the matter Grump?
Grump: you can’t believe that I actually trekked down here to Iworoko all the way from school.
Frust: Why?
Grump: the ‘bank’ could not dispense.
Frust: which of the banks?
Grump: the UBA of course!
Frust: /bursts into laughter/ you mean the self-same Un-decondescending cocoon of a coconut-
            carved coffin of some monster-smiling Bank Ass?
Grump: In fact right now, I’m thinking of selling the few materials I have to my class mates
               tomorrow so that I can have some money to keep me bobbling.
Frust: Ah! May God save us from this Trojan dross.
Grump: See, Frust, what I will like you to do for me is to give me some strategies.
Frust: May they eat rat poison till their chubby chicks and bellies become swollen as a
            parachute.
Grump: Frust!
Frust: I’m listening.
Grump: No, you’re not.
Frust: okay, tell me what you want us to do now.
Grump: How many of you? /coughs/ your ears are sand filled.
Frust: me?!
Grump: sorry- what I intend to say is that, I need to sell some materials- that I printed online-
               to my  class mates, so that I can have some change. Just give me few of those bad and
               tight advices of yours.
Frust: oh you need some strategies right?
Grump: yes, I do.
Frust: first /caresses his bears, looks more mean as if a leader of an assassin group is about to
            delegate on a very bloody murderous scheme. He clears his throat with a vibrating effect/
             you must plug out one of your incisors. That one at that point /pointing/
Grumpy: what! How so horrible!
Frust: horrible or honourable? Which one
Grump: of course it is Horrible. Why will you tell me to plug out my teeth because I want to sell
               those few things.
Frust: Cowardice! Sheer pusillanimity! Not too bezonian enough for the task. Simple
            philosophy!
Grump: Philosophy? What sort of cow-shit philosophy is that?
Frust:  let me tell you something: Once you appear before these people and open your ash
             -coloured donkey teeth, then they will laugh and laugh such that they’ll be very
             interested in you. Kabisa!
Grump: /confused/ but!
Frust: no but, my friend. It’s just a simple combination of an entrepreneurial stratagem plus
            what I call a retroactive bio-psychological chemistry. Just use this to incur the sweet
            wrath of their jocund hormones. And instantly, they’ll fall in love with you – the ladies,
            in particular. After then, your little market will sell.
Grump: okay, tell me, how precisely do you think that will be?
Frust: correct! Now you’re pinging /coughs like a well-to-do old chap/ listen, you will find a
            strong ruddy wood, with a glabrous mouth like those used in medieval England for
            killing vampires or the one used by flagellants for thudding their flesh. Get it for me and
            I’ll rax it very proximately into that part of your teeth /pauses a little/ hope you’ve
            got no halitosis?
Grump: what’s halitosis?
Frust: disease of the teeth which causes bad breath.
Grump: no, and why did you ask?
Frust: I would rather prefer being slaughtered by the breath of a horse than would an      
            unwashed garlic spiced, worm-soil teeth
Grumpy: Frust!
Frust: what?
Grumpy: stop it.
Frust: Okay, fine, you get it and I’ll make a clean measure. I promise you, no Laputian tailoring
            of such carpentry or carpentry of such a tailoring. Instead, I will prove what a
            Bezaleel I am.
Grumpy: If this is the only advice you’ve got for me, I think I’m out of here.
Frust: /laughs/ Magnifico!  Please wait, don’t go. /Grump tries to leave but he runs back quickly
           having seen the manager followed by two police-men/.

                        Enter Manager and two policemen
Manager: /pointing at Frust/ This is him.
Frust: him what?
Police1: young man, you’re under arrest.
Frust: /feigns fury/ under what?
Police1: no question please.
Frust: do you know who we are?
Police1: I don’t care.
Frust: In case you don’t know, we’re students of the faculty of law. Do you understand?
Police2: are you deaf? He said no question.
Frust: /quoting fictitiously/ according to the 1987 statement of judicature under article seven,  
            section twelve, subsection 29, it states that the victim of arrest must be allowed to make a
            declaration of claim even before the accuser makes any claims against him (since it may
            be calumny) and by no means must the force force the victim out of the victim’s claim
            under any circumstance of incoherent wordlessness?
Officers: /shocked and bewildered/
Manager: Nonsense. Officers arrest them.
Frust: for what?
Manager: for knocking off my teeth out of service.
Frust: out of what?
Police1: you heard him.
Frust:/shouts with his mouth agape/ Lie! This is a woeful calumny. It can’t be
Grump: yes you are right.
Manager: officers! Arrest them now
Grump: you mean him.
Manager: him or him. Anyhow!
Grump: /Aside/ mad man!
Frust: /shouts acrobatically/ what do you think you are that you think you can just molest
               anybody here?
police1: hey young man I think you have to come with us to the station.
Frust: you think? You’re not even sure.
Police men: you are under arrest!
Frust: /Furious/ I go no where. Besides, I have to call my father now.
Police1: who cares about your father?
Frust: the VPS, STD, LPC, VGC, SSS, SAN, VC, DVC, PSV, PSG, MFM, RCF, RCCG, BSF,
            MMM…BSC, MA, MLA, PHD,  3^rd generalissimo of the red dragon infantry division of
            the Nigerian Army…In short, you let me go inside to bring out his identity card, so that
            you know am not joking. /He enters the house and immediately escapes through the
            window, running away/.
Police1: look! He is running away. /The second policeman runs after him/
Grump: /treads slowly like a kangaroo, attempting to run away/.
Police1: stop there!
Grump: uhn?!
police1: we’ll have to lock you up until your friend appears.
Grump: what did you say?
Police1: you heard me.
Grump: /as if unconscious/ what happened?
Police1: are you okay?
Grump: I…I…/as if trying to recollect something/ what am I doing here?
Police1: is this not your friend’s house?
Manager: arrest him before he throws you out of service. Be quick! Dispense! Or else, he will
                   swindle us like the other did.
Grumpy: oh you mean my friend? Now I remember.
Police1: hey young man, you are under arrest!
Grumpy: did you say that to him?
police1: who?
Grumpy: no wonder he tried to use the same magic on me.
Manager: /sweating profusely/ officer, arrest him!
Grumpy: /soliloquizing skywards/ he conjured me to get a sharp object with which to detach my
                  incisors…I was almost about…o God thank you for saving me.
Manager: /opens his mouth wide and shouts/ arrest him!
Grumpy: Bismillahi rakhmoni rahim! What the hell happened to his teeth!
Manager: knocked out of service.
Grumpy:  by whom?
Manager: now officer, arrest him! /The police man holds Grumpy/
Grumpy: wait a minute.
police1: what?
Grumpy: remember I said my friend has been practising magic lately and I think that was what
                  he tried on me before you came. So…
Police1: so, what’s my own business with that?
Grumpy: anyway, just before we leave, I will advise that you check your little man (that is, your
                 man hood) to see if it is there or not, because, hmmmmm…(the policeman quickly
                 leaves him to unfasten his trousers. Very quickly, Grumpy runs away/.
Manager: officer, he his running away. Quickly, after him! /The officer tries to run after him,
                   but his trousers fall/. Come on! Come on! /He gets up, pulls up his trousers, but he
                       keeps doing this as he runs. The manager also runs after him (Grump)/.

                                                Curtain close 

                                                Third Motion page

                                                            At the bank
Frust: /tired waiting/ Hello, what’s going on?
Stranger 1: the machine is booting.
Frust: for how long has it been booting?
Stranger 1 it’s been a long while
Frust: /turns to the next stranger/ sir, do you also want to withdraw?
Stranger 2: yes.
Frust: how much?
Stranger 2: N1000. /The machine fully boots/.
Stranger 1: thank God /slots in his card. The machine rejects it and displays, ‘out of service’/
Stranger 1: o devil! /the machine loads again/ o God!
Stranger 2: it is better you don’t slot in your card again or else the ATM will seize it.
Frust: seize fire! Bros put the thing inside jare.
Stranger 2: he shouldn’t!
Frust: he should!
Stranger 2: he shouldn’t.
Frust: may be he should.
Stranger 2: don’t be rebellious, young man. /Stranger 1 is confused/.
Frust: I have a reason why he should.
Stranger 2L: like…
Frust: There are several possibilities obtainable, based on personal testimonies and experiences.
             For example, the ATM would not seize his card if it were to go off, especially while his
             card was just slotted in. It would only seize it if the user entered the wrong information
             about the card, on the ATM. Besides, I’m not certainly convinced that the ATM would
             seize his card, pursuant to its malfunctioning.
Stranger 1: /ignores them and starts transacting/
Stranger 2: but it actually happened to me some times ago.
 Security: that could have been the ATM facing the security office
Stranger 2: what about the two ATMs outside the gate?
Security: they don’t.
/stranger 1 is done with his transaction, but his card does not come out instantly/.
Frust: /to stranger 1/ sir, what are you waiting for?
Stranger 1: my card. /They keep standing for almost ten minutes/
Frust: what’s happening?
Stranger 1: the ATM? /chuckles/ it will not eject my card if it is not 15minutes past.
Frust: what! You don’t mean it.
Stranger 1: /transliterating/ Stay there and be looking. I actually calculated the amount of
                        minutes the indisposed ATM took before ejecting the previous transactor’s card.
Frust: /surprised/ Holy Moses!
Stranger 1: In fact, after it was done ejecting it, it went off by itself, came on, and re-booted
                     once again. I fear, that is how the cursed thing shall be ad infinitum. /Forthwith, the
                     ATM ejects the stranger’s card, went off, came on, re-boots and both Frust-
                     astonied by the confirmation- and the strangers laugh/.
Stranger 2: imagine. Kai!
Frust: to be candid, this is becoming unbearable.

                                                /A lady enters/
Security: Hello sister, do you want to withdraw?
Lady: yes.
Security: why don’t you try the machines outside? They are well functioning.
Lady: no.
Security: what do you mean by, ‘no’?
Lady: No, of course.
Security: is anything wrong with the two machines outside?
Lady: Nothing much, at least they can sing and talk politely.
Security: /hisses/ is that what I…
Lady: the first choruses, ‘out of service, out of service’. Out of a good wee fit into a goodish
            sheer shit, always out! Out! Out!
            But the second –both Siamese- did ad lib too well (with the same mezzo’) saying ‘unable
            to dispense, unable to dispense’. What a glorious chorale of nonsense.
Frust: /clasp his hand/ Fantastique!
Security: /silently exasperated/ what about the one facing the security office?
Lady: no network.
Security: I can’t believe this! Let us go to check it again.
                                                                                                                                    /exit/
Frust: /laughs/ UBA!
Stranger 2: out of service.
Frust: UBA!!
stranger 2: unable to dispense.
Frust: UBA!!!
Stranger: no network, ATM switching off and on
Both of them: and booting!!!!
Frust: what else?

                                                /the security comes in/

Stranger 2: Behold the front core of the robot-door, fallen like old Job.
Security: /blurts/ what is wrong with you guys? Can’t you see it’s just being replaced?
Frust: Allhi amdullilahi!
Stranger 2: So we shouldn’t say, ‘Useless Bank of Africa?’
Frust: /looking at the machine still booting/ perhaps, we will have to wait for the ATM to regain
            consciousness, before it takes Silas Marner’s seizure again.
Stranger 2: correct.
Frust:  What a disenchanted lazar of a machine.
Stranger: correct.
Frust: ready for another 15minutes of techno-psychotic dementia, before it ejects our card
Stranger 2: correct.
Frust: then dies
Stranger 2: correct.
Frust: Resurgam like Jesus
Stranger 2: by our Holy Mohammed…  Security:  saluwale wasalam… Stranger 2: … correct
Frust: /ahems/ takes another fucking 15minutes.
Stranger 2: correct.
Frust: ad infinitum.
Stranger 2: /pretending to know the meaning/ correct.

/The stage becomes suddenly blue. There is a blast from the outside. As it happens, the two ATMs outside the bank have been blown off. Men in black, cloaked like ninjas, rush into the bank. One attacks the ATM facing the security post. An alarum is sounded. The security is brutishly attacked and pummelled with a truncheon, koboko, and other flagellants, bandaged, while the stranger and Frust are allowed to leave untouched. All over the bank, there are several epitaphs with the cross bones all around  them such as, WARNING, AND THOU SHALL DISPENCE HENCE FROTH, BE IN SERVICE OR WE THROW YOU OUT OF SERVICE, YES-NETWORK, ATM BAPTISM. Police siren is heard. The men disappear/.

                                                            Curtain Closed

 

                      

                      

Kinjeketile

                                               

Criticism

          The play Kinjeketile opens in the village of Ngarambe, in the Rufiri region of Sounthern Tanganyika. Chausika, the daughter of Kitunda, Bibi Kitunda, her mother and wife to Kitunda and Bibi Kinjeketile, who happens to be the wife of Kinjeketile are seen walking a path leading to a river. On their way, they hold several discussions, one of which is the plantation owned by Bwana Kainoo.

          Many of the Tanganyikan burghers have taken to this plantation, in order to earn a living. Ab ovo, they’re being cut out from every source of their own livelihood and are now being compelled to rely on the plantation as their only means of survival. However, there appears to be a famine all over the land; a kind of pestilence that has affected all the populace. The famine seems to be from a hideous source; and has really eaten up the wealth of the people except Bwana kainoo’s. Non-the-less, the only option left for these people is to rely- symbiotically- on the plantation, owned by Bwana Kainoo.

In the play, we are able to understand that, though the plantation is the only line of life for the people, those who work therein are treated with contempt. They are made to work indefatigably. ‘All the men are spending their time cultivating for Bwana Kainoo and not for themselves. And in the end, they are being rewarded with a meagre wage’.

As they walk, a plume of smoke is sported from a distance drifting out of the thatch roof of Kinjeketile’s hutment. And very quickly, Chausiku is sent to see if it is really the cooking of food that is causing the smoke or something else. From this, we are able to sense their present plight, as they poor-mouth for want of food, within the stringency-stricken Tanganyika.

          Soon, the play shifts to the plantation. Therein, Kitunda- a member of the Wamatumbi-has just been whipped by the overseer, who was initially ordered by the head man. Thereafter, there is a covert slate proposed amidst the workers to have a meeting in the night.

          In the following scene (i.e. scene 2), we are acquainted with the following characters, Ngulumbalyo, Mngindo, Kitunda, an old man, Mkichi- in an open field, though a locus fitting for a ‘catacomb’, discussing on whether to set up a brawl against their German overlords(the new owners of the plantation) or not. It is in this scene that we come to know who Kainoo represents and what, palpably, is the fountain head of the general vassalage or the ruinous famine which has been infused to siege the people. Here, Kainoo is depicted as a German as well as the owner of the plantation. Having established a despotically Teutonic authority over the people, he together with the rest of his Germanic colleges, further, set up some instruments of coercion such as the Askari (the police force) which will compel and also belabour the people to work subserviently for them.

          Doubt soon hits this caucus of Tanganyikan coup plotters, when Kitunda is questioned about his visit to Kilwa, although he denies to have visited him. Through this page, we get to know that there is betrayal amongst the Tanganyikans, as there could be some who have decided to be ‘parrots’ or scouts, employed to eavesdrop on any form of machination perpetuated by their own members, for the Germans  Consequently, this actually tends to slow down the ‘proclivity’ of the plot.

‘Mngindo: people say that if one goes to Kilwa with the right kind of news, one is   
                rewarded. The white man pays well to get valuable information.

Kitunda: Are you trying to say that I am selling you and my people to the white
             man?

Mkichi: There are people doing that. There are people who are paid to stop us
           uniting. (Kinjeketile 5)’

          Here, they are interrupted by Mnypala. He approaches Kitunda directly for something concerning his (Kitunda’s) working at the plantation. Afterwords, we discover that he is being whipped seriously to a point of his falling unconsciously. His daughter Chausika is taken away to slave-in lieu of her parents. And later, it is revealed that, she is forcibly raped and molested, by the Askaris.

          Kinjeketile suddenly emerges from his thaumaturgic comb. He dances forward and backward and ambles towards a particular river inside of which he drowns himself, very quickly. At his metamorphosis, he comes out of the river, like one who has already been inebriated with some wild spirits. And addressing the people, in poetic figures, he begins to preach revolution and an outright purgative exorcism of the ‘aliens’ (Germans) from the land.

          In this scene (of Kinjeketile’s transfiguration), Kinjeketile appears to the whole, as the messiah who, having gone to the wilderness for so many years, arrives with a remedy. He becomes a mythic portraiture of respite for the people, just like some legendary immortals, as Odysseus and many other Grecian heroes that we know of. He has gone to dine with his ancestors, to get help from them and has been conjoined with them. He has been shown the key to freedom, ‘the spiritual water’, the water of life and immortality, ‘the maji-maji’.

A vignette from His Verse

‘This is th water land
This is the water of life.
And this is the whisk of power.
He who partakes of this water
no harm will befall him
No bullet will penetrate his body.
These are the gifts given us by our
ancestors and our spirits
Hear from me who comes from Bokolo,
the land of our ancestors
The message from our ancestors.
‘Destroy the Red Earth!
And these are the instruments.’’ (Kinjeketile, pg 10)

In the end, the Maji reveals itself to be a mere substance of inspiration, courage or a mental charger to enable the Tanganyikans maintain their stands and as long as they are spiritualized with it, not even the ruthless, oppressive threat of the Germans will penetrate through them, nor ruin them. They will remain immortal, that is, they will have a deathless cultural heritage, regardless of how cataclysmic the Germans may appear to be. So the maji is a figurative entity which, albeit derives its attribute from the so-called supernatural, yet does not appear to work for the purpose of building an immortal army for some physical battles. Instead, it is meant to build a web of cultural conjunctiveness amidst the people; and also enable them hold to their tradition and not deny it, regardless of what the white men do to ‘kill’ them (culturally).  Therefore, the cognitive manifestation of the maji-maji is in the oneness of the people.

          ‘You are confirmed in the belief that the water and the spirits will fight the war for you. You are depending on the water. Remove the water, and you will have a war- amongst yourselves, tribe against tribe…’’ (Kinjeketile 16).

          Kinjeketile soon declares war on the Germans. But later- as regards the critique of the power of the maji maji- he becomes cynical and disconcerted about whether the war should be fought or not.

          His idiopathic cynicism opens the door to another textual complexity as he attempts to dissuade Kitunda from believing in the power of the maji-maji. He says, ‘…when you had the people to war, you will act and plan as if the water did not exist. Use your own strength. You must not depend on the water! Promise me that.’

          Inferentially, we can say that, the meaning for the maji is derived from two transcendental phases- one phase, probably, expressing the point of unity underscored earlier and the other phase trying to warn the people of their doom, if they actually fail to realise the true significance of the maji, as regards its paradoxical vitiation, instead of  its ill ontological anecdotal prospectus, because now, they have failed to understand the true/deeper meaning of the maji, which is the cultural unification of every Tanganyikan tribe.

          At the end, there is war, but victory is not attained. At Mahenge- the strong-hold of the Germans- many of the warriors, are extremely defeated. Kitunda and some of the leaders of the tribes are both arrested and incarcerated. Kinjeketile is captured by the Germans, tortured and atrociously brutified, for refusing to renounce the ‘power of the maji maji (i.e. the spiritual water). At the end, he is persecuted to the point of his death.

                                      Symbolism in Kinjeketile

          In the play, the playwright employs some symbols to punctuate some extrinsic facts which, on the flip side, are not diaphanously stated in the text, but embedded within such textual elements as human characters, places and objects.

·        The Plantation: The plantation-interpretatively-appears as a microcosmic portal, to the planetary oyster of the negro-soil (the whole of Africa). And like a large looking-glass, it transpicuously reveals the nefarious trails of a Teutonic westernism upon the Africans.

Bwana plantation happens to be a bolt-hole or a Xanadu of succour wherein these people get sustenance for their daily living. As it is being exhibited through the author’s authorial testament, the plantation (Africa) has got someone like Bwana Kainoo, who has come, in the furtive might of feudalism, to lord over the traditionally African socialist, by means of force or other diplomatic chicaneries. It is in this society-as mirrored through the happenings in the plantation- that we find men and women, father, mother, daughter, belaboured to labor, like elephants. All they work for is only for the copious increase of the plantation which is at the glabrous lucre of the white owner. Worse still, they are barred from working for themselves, enslaved and blotted out of a free, independent living.

‘Bibi Kitunda: I know. Anyway, famine is inevitable. All men are working
                        in Bwana Kainoo’s plantation and not for themselves.

Bibi Kinjeketile: What you say is true. All men are spending all their time
                           cultivating for Bwana Kainoo, and not for themselves.
                           (Kinjeketile 2).

          In the plantation (as conceptualized within the African sense) we find, hardship, molestation, racial degradation/discrimination, ethnic intolerance, oppression, irreligiousness, imperialism, totalitarianism, aristocracy, slavery ,centralism, gubernatorial egomania, torture, injustice, impecuniosity, impropriety, austerity, malfeasance etc.

‘Mkichi: we are made to work like beasts in the…plantation. We are forced
            to pay tax. We die of hunger.’ (Kinjeketile 4).

·        Kinjeketile: Kinjeketile is a prophetic shaman. As described in the play, he represents the reactionary sages of a society like the social activists and critics, reformist etc. who, having observed the past, present and likely futuristic condition of the society, spurn the people into action. He is a reincarnation of traditionalism as well as the chain of concordance binding the very nature of its system.

·        The Maji-Maji; (Also known as the spiritual water), the maji or maji-maji is first mentioned in Kinjeketile’s poetry and forms a quotidian outlook. It deems itself, a supernaturally aqueous substance which when supped would ordinarily, transmute the body into a formidable and impenetrable wall. From this sense, though figurative, the surface structure interpretation of the Maji is to render the warriors indestructible, from the guns of the Germans. However- in contrast- the water serves as a restoration of tradition. It symbolizes unity among every traditional group; a merger agglutination one tribe to the other. In addition, it also serves as a ‘belaying pin’ in spanning one to another, thereby weaving into a consonant amalgamation of multifarious tribal units. More so, the water not only represents the recovery of their primitive puissance but also, it serves as a redeeming fortification of cultural energy. It tends to refurbish the frightful fissures of religious divergence in order to enliven unity.

‘Representative: We believe in Kolele. We can only follow his guidance.
                          But the more we hear of your spirit Hongo, the more we
                          are convinced that he his Kolele. Kolele lives in water.
                          Your spirit does the same…But the Mywiywila said that,
                          he is Kongo. We come to ask you whether this is Kolelo or
                       Hongo…If it is so, then we are ready to join you. If not,
                        then, we cannot fight together. (Pause) you haven’t
                        answered my question.

Kinjeketile: What question?

People of the Wazaramo: Are Hongo and Kolelo one and the same?

Kinjeketile: (almost timidly) Hingo is merely another for Kolelo…’’
                   (Kinjeketile 18).

Summarily, the maji is meant for culture-immortality rather than the immortality of the Tanganyikan mortals.

‘Kinjeketile: No, you are not ready to fight! What you mean is, you are not
                   ready to fight! What you mean is you are confirmed in the
                     belief that war for you. You are depending on the water.
                     Remove the water, and you will have a war-amongst yourselves
                   (i.e. disunity, intra-ethnic war), tribe against tribe.
                   (Kinjeketile 17).

·        The Bullet: The ‘bullet’ is a symbolism of the policy of the German colonialists. It is portrayed, poetically, in the 34 lines free verse perused orally by Kinjeketile. From between lines 40 and 45, the ‘bullet’ is mentioned

‘‘Kinjeketile: This is th water land
                    This is the water of life.
                    And this is the whisk of power.
                    He who partakes of this water
                    no harm will befall him
                   No bullet will penetrate his body

Note: It is from the poetic nature of this disquisition that we are able to understand that, nothing is to be taken literal. More over, the whole concept of the Maji is not to assert any idea of necromancy, but to advocate a substructural connotation of what it is aside its physical composition- ‘bullet’.

          The bullet, as to what it should mean, symbolizes the violent regime of the Germans which-through the established policy of brutish individualism- is meant to extirpate all forms of cultures and belief systems and also render every vociferation of the African tradition and religion in the community bootless. Also, while the bullet is to smite the African heritage, it is also meant to kill every cultural body of its primitive conscience/cultural philosophies thereby translating them into another system that is awfully alien to the whilom. So, the bullet must kill their culture and the owners, in order for them to resuscitate into an unprecedented Germanic system. Hence, we have two classes which the bullet has dealt with- both in misanthropocentrism, and in altruism

a)    The alienated: These are those whom the bullet has isolated from out of their poly-cultural compounds. Such people are the Askaris as well as the notorious kilwa (a parrot or a modern-day hooded agent, serving the white).

b)     The inalienated: Those who refuse to be isolated and who refuse to deny their heritage; and who, as a result, are recompensed (by the same bullet) with forced labor, starvation & malnutrition, flagellation etc.

·        Mnyapala: He is the German whip. He represents the aliens, in all the coasts of Africa. He symbolizes all those who have decided to be initiated and circumcised into the culture of the whites and now becomes as harsh and inhumane as the whites. They will go as far as betraying their fellow Africans, torturing them, cheating them, stealing from them and even persecuting them. They are the same set of people who are lampooned in ‘the trial of Dedan Kimathi, especially those employed as police officers or soldiers to war against their African brothers.

‘The same story. Our people…tearing one another…and all because of the crumbs thrown at them by the exploiting foreigner…’’ (The Trial of Dedan Kimathi 18).

·        The Red Earth: Th Red Earth is a symbolism of the German; though used, in part, to show the exotic familiarity of the people with the white men and, in whole, to give a picture of what they ought to be, from an unschooled thought. The people, due to their illiteracy would prefer naming things that are runic to their knowledge by means of comparison. For example, stick (referring to a gun) and even the Red Earth (referring to the Germans). ‘The Red Earth are still in our country…’’.

Themes

          Through various themes, the play addresses many prominent issues which splashed across the whole of Africa during the colonial period. These themes are;

1        The unabridged extremes of western capitalism, totalitarianism and slaveocracy.

2        Alienation.

3        Animism: the role of tradio-religious proselytism.

4        Ethnicity.

5        Dehumanization.

6        Africanism and Eurocentrism.

7        Fear.

v The Unabridged Extremes of western Capitalism, Totalitarianism, Slaveocracy: These themes assume their covert forms in the words of Mkichi.

‘Mkichi: The Red Earth is still in our country. What’s more, he has taken
               our country from us by force… He has got us paying him taxes.
              We just stare at him. Is it for him to demand taxes from us? He
              should be paying us tax, but no! We like women, just meekly sit,
              watching him do what he wants with us, with our land. How long
              are we going to remain meek and silent? Are we going to allow
              ourselves to be persecuted in our country?’ (pg 3)

 Mkichi’s curtailed jeremiad is a mild vociferation of the beaming cords of western despotism and individualistic egomania plunging very deeply into the arteries of the mainlanders. From his words, we are confronted with the asparagus of imperialistic intolerance, having witnessed what transpires between the black settlers of the Sounthern Tanganyika and the german-white overlords. Also from the play, we are affiliated with the scope of a no-Marxian society; a society where the exploiter reaps more and the exploited, less. It is even in this capitalistic taradiddle that we find the labouring peasants working as ants and eating as ants, whereas, those for whom the work is being done eat the largest share of the through-put. By this, the people are continually made helots (or slaves) to the Germans. They will have to work tirelessly without any reproach; and if they try to revolt, they will be severely punished.

          Under this condition, fundamental human right has become a jack-water entity, as the people are strictly subjected to the indisputable edicts of the Germans, barred from making free speeches or protesting against their white-masters (the Red Earth).

v Alienation: In the play, the Red earth- a great deal of extempore extents- are considered aliens, coursing the Atlantic heights of the African terra- firma (Tanganyika). And due to their pungent doctrines, so many have to renounce their cultures for the sake of getting relief from the whites. They allow themselves to be circumcised as well as adopted into the Germanic system. More upon, many tend to receive more recognition and favour as long as they continually support their policy- by means of betraying other Africans who tend to be secrete plotters and cabals heading for the cleansing of the societies. These set of people, like Mnyapala, and the entire fold of askaris, will go as far as killing, torturing and extorting from their black brothers- in deference to the hellish laws and principles of the Germans. Here also is someone like Kilwa who rewards nosey parkers and society parrots that might, perhaps, disseminate any information touching the plotting of coup or demonstration (violent/peaceful) of any Tanganyikan (African) groups.

v Animism- The role of an Afri-tradio-religious proselytism: This has a focus on the spiritual connection between the people and their saws. Since this alien tradition has suddenly invaded the whole black community as well as ‘injured’ the internal system of the people’s traditional minds, there is the need to revitalize the oldish nature of the people’s culture-by means of a substance which will serve as a spiritual  connective (or a sort of network) between the people and their source. It is through this means that there can be a general cleansing of the land. More so, the Maji has become a symbol of unity to detach the people from the euchring benisons of the Germans as well as attach them to their backgrounds, because no revival will betide unless the people are co-meddled with the forces encircling their roots. That is why Kinjeketile says- in his poetry- that the ‘maji maji are the gifts given us by our ancestors and our spirits…the message from our forefathers…(pg 70) destroy the red earth...!’’ (Kinjeketile 10)

So, now that things have gotten worse, the only solution is to re-generate everyone and get them glued to their primogenitors (or ancestral spirits), for to ensure a forthrightly outstanding change, they must be re-united within their traditional/religious hearth.

In summary, animism tends to unlock the people, in terms of their,

v Belief in spirits

v Belief in the animistic suprabilities of the gods

v Belief in ancestral authorities

v A withdrawal from modernism (the present) into the primitive (the past)

v A preference for the antiquated as a medium for such a cleansing

v Ethnocentrism- religious and cultural conflicts: In the play, names of several groups are mentioned. They are Wakichi tribe, wamatumbi tribe, wazaramo, Warufiji etc.But the problem that we are made to see- as touching this ethnic groups-is their contradistinctive belief systems. Every group believes that it has a different god that is supreme to the other and that it is capable of making them succeed. In fact, some still believe they can fight independently and therefore need no collaboration with any other groups. This is  vividly evident in the words of Ngulumbalyo:

‘First Man: No sign of Kibasila and his people.

Ngulumbalyo: If they don’t come, it doesn’t matter. It’s not necessary that
                        they should join us. We can manage without them. We have
                         won several times before, we will win again…’ (Kinjeketile
                         23)

Another ethnocentric issue emphasized is the issue of tribalism. Here, one group believes that it is superior to the other and that the other one is inferior. This case is found in ‘Act 1 Scene 2, where Kitunda and Mkichi fight over one matter, relating to the superiority or inferiority of one ethnicity to the other.

‘Kitunda: Hongo is a powerful spirit, true, but he has no power over matters
                 of life and death.

Old Man: (standing up) you blaspheme! Your words are dangerous! How
                 dare you talk of Hongo in that manner?

Kitunda: We did not come here to talk about Hongo. We came here to
                 decide upon a plan of action.

Mkichi: and what have you to say?

Kitunda: I have already said it, let us wait until we have the arms.

Mkichi: That is a coward’s point of view. But then, since when we’re the
             Wamatumbi warriors!

Old man: We did not come here to quarrel over tribal issues.

Kitunda: Let him say that again and I will make him sorry for the rest of
                his life.

Mkichi; I’ll say it again; the wamatumbi are cowards. You are nothing but
              women. (Kinjeketile 4).

From the extract above, tribalism, religious and cultural differences are boldly underscored.

v Dehumanization: Chausika is taken forcibly away to work in her father’s stead. Not only is she taken away to slave, she is also being molested and raped. However, she represents the degraded ‘womanhood’ of the petti-coat African society. On the other hand, kitunda is whipped to a state of coma, because of his refusal to work at the plantation. Also, Kinjeketile is publicly humiliated slugged and later ‘crucified’ for refusing to deny his hood, his people and his heritage.

v Africanism and Eurocentrism: In a more stringent perspective, these items can be subsumed under the clash between two different cultures; the preponderance of one over the other together with the effort of one to destroy / rule over the other. In the play, we see that, because of the oppressive nature of the Germans and their alien cultures, the Africans tend to search for various means by which they could annihilate them.

The choice opted for the negro-physicking of a Caucasoid barbarism as such is nothing but revolution. There is the need to expunge the white-stains and policies form the African soil and restore authority to the Tanganyikans.

Kitunda’s method for such a revolutionist approximation could be sub-genred under the context of fighting westernisation with westernisation or foreign policy with foreign policy. ‘As our first duty therefore, we must collect weapons. Steal guns from the Askaris, seize them if need be in short do everything to see that we’ve got guns…’

Kitundi sees through the binoculars of modernism as the purest mechanism to get westernization guillotined, while Mkichi confines in the primitive as the most feasible. By and by, there is a tumultuous clash between their philosophies: Kitundi abrogates the potency of ancestral powers and believes they will have no effect on the aliens. Instead, he hankers that a new power, one which he sees in the Germans, to be their strong hold/or background will do. He believes that, the Germans can still be destroyed with their own fabrication rather than with any extrinsically illusionary hokum of a ‘dream-land magic’.

However, the brilliant chemistry of such an innovative slate is one that is required to exorcize the white-devils off the land, according to Kitundi. Nevertheless, there still seems to be an occlusion towards its prospect as he senses that ‘frustration pushes the helpless to a state of unmitigated destitution wherein they are pummelled by the ferule of stringency and hunger drives us to betray one another.’ (pg 4)

In this respect, we are made to understand how this Teutonic imperialism has brought about sectionalism as well as intra-ethnic stratification of cultural subjects. In the same vein, the contact between African tradition and the alien has brought about a circumcision of societal structure into a new culture. Every denizen of the African sphere has been isolated from their core beliefs and therefore transmuted into an alien system, assuming a different body and mental attitude. And because of this influence, there is the need to wave back to the traditional system where everyone is gagged unto the other by trust, love and a system that has an undivided communion and that is built upon an undaunted Africanness. ‘There is only one way to fight. Let us propitiate our ancestors, and the spirits. And Hugo will help us’.

v Fear: In Act 1 Scene 2, the atmosphere is inflicted by a cumulus of consternation as the people are encaged within the latches of fear. Here, Kitunda is being whipped by just two men and Chausika is being plundered away by just the same two men. In spite of this, there are a lot of people around, watching the whole scenario. They only creep out of their shells to console Bibi Kitunda including Kitunda himself after the two Askaris had gone already. ‘Get out! Get out of here, you women. Two little men were enough to scare the whole lot of you. You have been enslaved body and spirit. Do you call yourselves Wamatumbi? Oh no not at all. You are mere women. You! You’re forced to dig- yes. Your children are seized- yes. You are ‘yes’ men. What have you crept in here to do? You hid until those two where gone. And now you steal in like thieves- to come to my aid. I don’t want your help. Get out! ’- Bibi Kitunda