THE THEME OF INHERITANCE IN THE PLAY INHERITANCE BY DAVID MULWA

Inheritance refers to what is left by the deceased to the family in material wealth or sometimes power. However, the word could have diverse meanings when applied to works of literature. In this respect, David Mulwa looks at inheritance in various ways.

The play revolves around a three decades old Kutula under its new leadership. Having achieved independence from colonial masters, Kutula is now governed by Lacuna Kasoo-the son of pre-independence King Kutula XV. Lacuna ascended to power after the death of his father. Although the King has adopted Princess Sangoi as his successor, he dies mysteriously thus handing the power to the greedy, self-centred Lacuna. As it were, Lacuna conspired with the colonial masters to assassinate his father King Kutula XV.

Having assumed power with the help of colonial masters, Lacuna runs the government under the influence of Kutula’s former imperialists. He receives hefty loans aimed at ‘developing’ the country. However, the loans are meant to make Kutula a slave of foreign saboteurs led by Old Daniel Goldstein and young Robert Rollestone. Even though Kutula boasts of being an independent state, there is a lot that suggests that the country inherited the former colonial legacies. For instance, the Daniel Goldstein’s company bankrolls Kutula. Without their loans and donations, Kutula’s economy is bound to collapse. (Pg72) Secondly, when Goldstein points out how blatant misappropriations of funds were in Kutula, he assumes power and even sits on Lacuna Kasoo’s throne just to show who exactly was in power in Kutula. (Pg79) Therefore, Kutula was a sovereign nation under imperial powers.

One of the reasons King Kutula was assassinated was because he was tired of being treated as a slave by colonial authorities. He wanted liberation on Kutula terms not the terms set by the imperialists. He had demanded for total independence- a privilege the super powers were unwilling to extend. In order to control Kutula and perhaps harvest humongous profits from her mineral wealth, the colonial Bishop Menninger suggested the appointment of the greedy yet brainless Lacuna Kasoo. (Pg15) With Lacuna in office the colonialists continued to enjoy the same privileges they had enjoyed during the colonial period. On the other hand, the people of Kutula would suffer in poverty and bad governance as they had during the reign of Thorne Macay- the colonial governor. However, the people believe that the conditions were better of during the colonial period.

The play explores inheritance and its pains to the society. As it were, the people believed in the their leaders, especially King Kutula. On the one hand, locals believed that King Kutula had blessed Princess Sangoi- later Reverend Sangoi as the rightful heir to the throne. While on the other hand, the colonialist hatched a plan to swear in the legitimate child- Lacuna Kasoo as the new leader. Therefore, the struggle was between the rightful heir and the chosen one. In this case the rightful heir won but is thrown out of office in a bloodless coup led by Romanus Bengo.

As can be seen, inheritance maintains the status quo but a fresh breathe of new leadership brings to the table new ideas which can be optimistic for the people. In the play, Reverend Sangoi represents a fresh new leadership that would agree to negotiations with foreign investors as opposed to dictation as seen in Lacuna Kasoo’s regime where foreigners enjoyed while locals suffered in slavery and poor pay. The new Kutula is open to quid pro quo kind of agreement as stated by Reverend Sangoi. (Pg35)