Allegory is a style in which the writer or author mirrors what is happening in society with what happens in his work of art. Most often, allegory has been used to espouse the truth ignorant to the masses. In Inheritance, David Mulwa attempts to warn us about the dangers of voting in Uhuru Kenyatta. Nevertheless, a decade later, we voted in Uhuru Kenyatta and now we are reaping what we sowed.
The play Inheritance is the modern-day Allegory of the Cave. Written by Plato centuries ago, Allegory of the Cave explains why the opinion of the few with knowledge is unacknowledged especially at the time when there is a general consensus on what truth is. In this respect, the majority will acknowledge the general truth as opposed to the new truth espoused by the few. This is one of the reasons we make the wrong decisions.
The play Inheritance was first published in 2004- two years after Uhuru Kenyatta had lost two Mwai Kibaki in the 2002 elections. At the time, no one knew that Jomo Kenyatta’s son would become the fourth president of Kenya. However, David Mulwa had foreseen this possibility. Whether it was by coincidence or intentional, the playwright captures Uhuru Kenyatta’s ascendancy to power with a clear picture.
To begin with, Jomo Kenyatta died peacefully in his sleep in August 1978. In 2008, we were celebrating his 30th memorial. Five years later, Uhuru would ascend to power as the fourth president of Kenya. The first movement in the play happens after thirty years of independence. By this time, King Kutula XV is already gone and in his place is the King’s son Lacuna Kasoo. The death of King Kutula was as sudden as that of Kenya’s first president. Assuming that King Kutula died shortly after independence, the parallels established here are indeed unmistakable.
Secondly, once Lacuna ascended to power, he immediately opened doorways to foreign investment and donor funding. He welcomed the likes of Goldstein and Robert to his country in the quest to make his country progressive. If we can recall clearly, Uhuru Kenyatta, on assuming office, he became a certified globe trotter, in all his voyages, he was looking for foreign funding and investments. Just like Lacuna Kasoo, Uhuru Kenyatta hoped that foreign investments would steer his country to ‘economic prosperity.’ Besides globetrotting, Uhuru welcomed investment forums into the country but all these efforts never materialized in economic stability.
When opening the new dam in Bukelenge, Lacuna promised that the dam was the beginning of development in the country (pg21.) However, the reality is that life became hard because people could not even get basic commodities like water. Tamina laments that they have to walk for fifteen kilometres to get water. On the other hand, Uhuru Kenyatta’s administration promised free education, creation of employment opportunities, paved highways, and state of the art stadiums and bullet trains. However, eight years in power, none of the promises he gave have materialized. In fact, instead of development, the country is facing unprecedented inflation with supermarket chains, restaurants, and companies closing and unemployment levels on the rise. Just like in Kutula, the projects that were earmarked to bring development are the same problems that have become an incurable cancerous ulcer. Nevertheless, Uhuru dares to say that he has done a lot for his country than his predecessors.
Talking about water, the dam Lacuna built was aimed at providing water for irrigation and basic use. However, instead of the proposed irrigation of the land, both the Bukelenge Valley and plateau dried up as the streams that provided water to the people were directed to the dam. Kenya is facing a similar situation. The sprawling Nairobi city has a surging population that has put a strain on the local water resources. To mitigate the situation, the government came up with a plan to draw water from Maragwa and Mathioya rivers from Murang’a County. Available research shows that the environmental impact will be huge for the economic activities taking place in Murang’a county. However, the government disregarded the research and went ahead to build the Northern Corridor tunnel. The claim is that the tunnel will collect excess water from the rivers especially during the flooding season. Murang’a is a demi-arid region that relies on both rivers for her agricultural activities. Just like Bukelenge, we may see Murang’a dry up.
Apart from Murang’a, there was opposition to the building of the Standard Gauge Railway across the Nairobi National park. The park boasts of being the only National park near a major city. Similarly, research showed that the railway passing through the park would affect the local flora and fauna. The government went ahead and built an overhead railway line. In her defense, the government said the overhead railway would have little impact on the migratory routes of wild animals. Besides the railway, the Southern bypass also cuts through the national park. There are already fears that the park has now been reduced to a vast empty land.
Uhuru Kenyatta’s regime has also led to massive land grabbing and forced evictions. From grabbing playground belonging to a public primary school to the fears that the Nairobi National park is fully gone, the land situation is dire just like in Kutula. Just a couple of months ago, families were evicted from areas around Gikomba and Kariobangi. As can be seen in Inheritance, Lacuna is planning for forced eviction from Bukelenge valley to pave way for foreign investment.
Lacuna and his team of councilors is a pack of wolves. According to Robert both Lacuna and his henchmen have massively stolen from the country’s coffers and stashed the loot in foreign accounts (pg110.) The money heavily stolen was the money donated to Kutula for the earmarked development projects. According to Robert, the company gave Lacuna one and twenty billion shillings. None of the money had been paid and the interest was building up by the hour. Similarly, Kenya has borrowed billions of shillings for development and of late to fight the COVID19 pandemic. However, going by the stories in the media, the money has been used to create what is now called the COVID19 millionaires.
The resemblance of Inheritance to present-day Kenya is uncanny. Unless those in authority change their greedy ways, the situation may skyrocket to what happened in Kutula. It is no wonder that civil rights activists like Miguna Miguna is not allowed into Kenya. Just like Romanus Bengo, Miguna Miguna may lead to a quiet movement against the greedy leaders in power today.
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