BETRAYAL IN THE CITY - ACT SUMMARIES

·         Act One

·         Scene 1

Events in this scene take place at the gravesite of adika the son of Doga and Nina who was killed by the sub-chief’s brother, Chagaga. Doga and Nina are at the gravesite lamenting their son’s death whose killer was still roaming and living among them. They both wonder where their other son, jusper, was when his brother’s killers were desecrating adika’s grave the previous night since they had left him there to protect his late brother’s remains. His parents had thought that the previous night downpour may have made him to abandon the grave and seek shelter. While at the grave Doga fills his son’s grave with soil since it had cracks which they believed was caused by the people who killed his son Adika. He fills the cracks with soil to disguise the evil that lived among them. He also does this so that their traditional shaving ceremony could go on as planned and to confuse the spirits of the dead so that they do not turn wild with anger on account of a ceremony that was not performed. Nina, Doga’s wife, wanted to send word to the sub-chief about what had happened at their son’s grave but Doga was opposed to the idea because the sub-chief was the brother of adika’s killer. While addressing the audience, Doga lets the audience know that his son was killed during a protest march and the only four bullets that were fired during the protest killed his only son and the person who fired the begun was dismissed from his job and in his defence he said that he acted in self-defence.

When jusper arrives at the gravesite, both Doga and Nina hide away from jusper who had a red gown on. He talks to himself saying how his parents and the society in Kafira thought that he had lost his mind. Nina joins jusper at the gravesite and asks him why he deserted his brother’s grave that previous night. He tells her that he was serving the nation and at that moment Doga comes out of his hiding. Doga and Nina then beg jusper to go and put on a clean shirt but he refuses and tells them that he cannot go after the murder. Doga and Nina are left confused not knowing who jusper had murdered as he was claiming. Doga thought that jusper was talking about his dead brother while Nina thought that jusper was talking about killing Doga. After their conversation about the unknown person that jusper was claiming he had killed, he asks permission from his parents so that he could go and confess for the murder that he had committed. Nina gives her the go ahead to go and change to a clean shirt before he goes to confess his mistake. After jusper exits the scene, Jere and Mulili arrive at the gravesite with orders to prevent Doga and Nina from holding their ceremony in the interest of peace. Mulili tells Doga and Nina that adika’s grave no longer belonged to them. Mulili’s talk angers both Nina and Doga who threatened to curse him for trying to take away their son’s grave from them. Jere is also angered by Mulili’s talk since Doga and Nina were from his tribe and he followed their ways.  Jere, who Doga notices that he was Kaleka’s son, was sympathetic to their cause but because he had a signed order from his superiors he could not allow them to be at the gravesite during the ceremony. It is at this point that Mulili and Jere inform Doga and Nina how their son jusper had confessed to in front of a mob to killing Chagaga and throwing his body at the river. They tell them how the mob started stoning jusper after his confession and running away after they thought that they had killed him. This new information from Jere and Mulili shocks the two old couple and Nina starts to blame herself for sending jusper to confess.

After Jere and Nina leave the gravesite, Jere and Mulili get into an argument on whether they should allow Doga and Nina to continue with their traditional ceremony. Jere begs Mulili to allow them to carry on with their ceremony but Mulili refuses because boss had promised him acres of land and grade cattle’s if he kept law and order and he would not want to lose it because of some primitive ceremony. Jere tells Mulili that he would go to the village and announce that the ceremony was on. Mulili still opposed this and as their argument progresses, Mulili gets caught up in the argument and he goes and scoops some soil from the grave and lets it fall between his fingers. This action infuriates Jere who aims a pistol at him and shoots but Mulili misses by diving off stage. Mulili then tells Jere that he shall pay for trying to shoot him but Jere dares him to go ahead with his threat.

·         Scene two

Events in this scene take place inside a prison cell. Jere has been arrested and the reason might be because he allowed Doga and Nina to carry on with their traditional ceremony or for attempting to shoot Mulili. Jere is kept in a cell that he shares with Mosese. The prison warder who locks Jere in the cell was furious with Jere because he referred to him as his friend and of the way he was talking to him as if he was belittling him. From the conversation between Jere and askari we can tell that Jere had been in prison for two days and he was going to be rehabilitated since that was the case for those who passed through Kafira’s prison. Mosese, who was also in the cell is drawn by the conversation between askari and Jere when askari asks him what he thought by showing them his back and Mosese answers askari by telling him that he had no front. Mosese answer impresses Jere pulling Mosese more into the conversation. Mosese asks askari questions that he finds difficult to answer. Mosese questions does not go well with askari who tells him that he was there to see that he does not ask questions. The prison warder tells Mosese how Jere was brought in and how he was treated until he re reached his breaking point. Askari’s explanation to Mosese of how Jere was treated makes Mosese to compliment askari of how honest he was. Before the prison warder exits the scene he tells Mosese to think about what he had told him for him to get discharged from the prison. The prison warder informs Mosese that jusper was going to be discharged after following advice. Mosese then asks the askari to allow him speak to jusper before he is discharged from prison. Before askari leaves, he tells Mosese to think about his suggestion because it was the only way that he could help him. When Jere asks askari to return his bible because the senior officer told him that he could keep it, askari refuses. After askari has left the scene, Jere turns to Mosese and tells him that he was a believer and that was why he had carried the bible. He narrates to Mosese of how he changed his mind when he was sent to his sub-location to restore peace and order. His reasons for carrying the bible was that he thought it might restore his faith in humanity and that was why he acted as Pilate with a fellow inmate who acted as Jesus. 

After Jere and Mosese officially introduce themselves to each other, they discuss of how the changing of names was one of the items in the development plan. Mosese tells Jere that he changed his name from Nicodemus to Mosese after a man named Nicodemus planted a kilogramme of opium in his car a day after he attended the funeral service of adika which was later turned into a political rally by the politicians. After the funeral service he was arrested for talking against the politicians and his sister was beaten up so as to give evidence against him. He also tells Jere of her sister’s effort to help him released from prison accusing her of being soft and weak for a prisoner’s sister. During their conversation about events that had happened in the past Mosese informs Jere about the coming of a visiting head of state to Kafira who boss wanted to be entertain and because of his love for drama, boss had decided that a play be performed for the visitor and if it was going to be a success boss had promised the release of six hundred prisoners. When Jere hears this he persuades Mosese to take part in the play but Mosese declines because that meant he would be betraying his principles. As they were talking the prison warder returns with a cup of tea and offers it to Mosese but declines to give Jere because according to him they didn’t speak the same language. He then rushes off the scene after hearing sounds of a whistle. As he exits the scene Mosese offers Jere a sip of his tea. Jere then tries to convince Mosese to take part in the play so that he can have a chance to meet boss and give him something to feel ashamed of. Mosese was still adamant to take part in the play since his principles could not allow him to bend so low.  Jere He tells how his sister was beaten up until she lost hearing in one of her ears so that he could give false evidence against him.  Jere tries to sympathise with him but his reaction showed that he didn’t want anyone to feel sorry for him. Because of how he got worked up when Jere tried to sympathised with him, Jere advises him to rest and as he was resting askari returns wanting to know what the commotion was all about and he warns Jere against rioting in public. As he leaves the prison cell, Jere begins to organise where to sleep and Mosese who was now asleep starts having nightmares making Jere to conclude that Mosese was partly mad.

Scene three

Events in this scene take place inside Regina’s house. Jusper entry into Regina’s house startles her because he enters without knocking on the door. On seeing him, Regina is not pleased with the red bandana that jusper was wearing because she thought that it made him look more dangerous. Regina then offers jusper a sit but jusper refuses because he was distressed after the killing of his entire family. He tells Regina that he would one day get revenge against those who murdered his family but Regina is against his mission and tells him to forget the past. Jusper tells Regina how she had lost her fighting spirit like everyone else in the street. He tells Regina that the reason why he and other students were marching in the streets was to force the authorities to recognise adika in the papers since adika died for the truth. He goes on by telling Regina how he was having disturbing nightmares. He tells Regina how the actions done by adika, Mosese and Jere were heroic but Regina counters by telling him that the three simply put a lock to their past. He goes on by telling her how during adika’s funeral service they let him speak knowing very well what he would say and the conspiracy involved to lock him up. Regina then asks jusper if the rumour about the state visit was true and jusper who seemed not to care because according to him the visitor was only looking for employment. He tells Regina that if the rumour was true everybody will have a three day holiday and Regina tells him that prisoners will be released to mark the occasion. As jusper exits the scene to go to the toilet he returns after making a short call and asks Regina where she heard that the visit by the head of state will result in the release of prisoners. She tells him that she heard it from her landlord who will be in charge of the whole preparation since he was boss’s right hand man. She goes ahead and tells jusper that she approached her landlord who was called tumbo to help her speak to boss on her behalf and that was when he told her about the release of the prisoners. Few moments later a knock is heard on the door and Regina who was at the sitting room runs to the kitchen as tumbo enters his house. When inside he meets jusper in Regina’s sitting room and he notices that jusper had on a red bandana and he asks him whether he was one of the rioting students who marched up and down the streets chanting a dead student’s name. Jusper who was clearly angered by Tumbo’s speech tells him that the dead student was so close to him to be discussed by his kind. He then asks him if he wanted to see her cousin and he agrees. As Regina enters the sitting room she asks jusper and tumbo if they have met. Tumbo who thought that because he was a popular person jusper might know him but jusper only seems to know his name. The three go ahead and talk about the short prayer that jusper had signed his name on so that God could help them drop their Christian names. The changing of names was item number three in boss’s development plans and boss himself had given them a good example by changing his name which was difficult to pronounce. Tumbo who was in support of the name changing hailed boss because according to him a leader should have a mysterious name that common people find it difficult to pronounce.

Regina then enquires from tumbo if the visitor was still coming and jusper who was the organising secretary of the university’s students union tell them that he felt the visitor’s ghost was already all over the place. To cut him short from embarrassing himself to tumbo, Regina diverts the conversation by asking tumbo and Regina if any of them would like to take coffee but tumbo suggests that they have a cold drink. At this juncture he gives jusper some money to go and buy the cold drinks. He also offers him his jaguar but jusper declines the offer because he didn’t know how to drive. As jusper exits the scene, Regina tells tumbo that jusper does nothing but sits all day writing play lets. This revelation excites tumbo who needed a play that would entertain the visiting head of state and because he had been appointed the chairman of the entertainment programme he asks Regina if jusper would agree to take part in the play because there was some money set aside for the play. Regina and Tumbo’s conversation then diverts to Mulili and his cousin boss. Regina tells tumbo that Mulili has been given a large farm for his services to the nation. Tumbo affirms Regina’s story as being true and he informs her that Mulili has retired from the army and was now a farmer. Tumbo then tells Regina that his brother Mosese has been persuaded to take part in the play and he has also made appointment for her to meet boss and plead for his brother’s release. Though Regina was happy to hear about her meeting with boss he had reservations since she felt like something wrong would happen when she goes to boss’s palace.

When jusper returns after buying the drinks, tumbo informs him that he has been told that he writes plays. Jusper agrees and he tells him that none of his plays has ever been published because they were too dangerous. Tumbo then offers jusper the chance to write the play that was to be acted for the visiting head of state because there was good money in it. He then tells jusper to write a play about the achievements that boss’s government has completed and the prize money will be given to him even though the competition for writing the play has not been held. He then pronounces jusper as the winner of the play writing competition and he offers him a third of the prize money while the rest will be used to set the books right.  Regina then enters the room from the kitchen and tumbo cheers jusper because he has won the play writing competition. Tumbo informs Regina that his cousin has won the play writing competition and that has saved the government a lot of money. When Regina wanted to protest about the abuse of power by tumbo, she is reminded by tumbo that life was not a straight line. He reminds them that all their dealings were in strict confidence and that their prize money will be sent to them as soon as the results of the competition were made public. Jusper then wanted to know how long the play should be and tumbo tells him to make it about forty five minutes long and to make sure that the words ‘progress’ and ‘achievement’ appear on every other page. As tumbo exits the scene with Regina, he tells jusper to keep the change of the drinks he had bought with his money.

·         Act Two

·         Scene one

Events in this scene take place in an office setting. There is to be a meeting by the committee members who were tasked with the entertainment diary of the visiting head of state. Kabito and Nicodemo are the first to arrive at the meeting and their discussion focuses on the milk supply tender which kabito had secured the previous night but was later given to Mulili after the involvement of boss. Mulili who had now become a farmer is included in the committee by his cousin for security reasons. Kabito was furious that Mulili had been included and since he had a vendetta with him for taking away the milk supply tender from him. On the other hand Nicodemo is against the idea of prisoners acting for the visitor and for them to be treated like free citizens. Tumbo, who is the chairman of the meeting, enters the office and he is not surprised that Mulili has not yet arrived. Tumbo who is a little too formal irritates Nicodemo and kabito because to them they were not best of friends. As the three discuss about the pay that they were going to get Mulili enters the scene but a bit late. He tells the committee members how a small man had taken his tender and how he got it back when his cousin intervened. As they were talking he tells them that he wanted to know who the person who had taken his tender was and he vows that as soon as he knew who that person was he was going to deal with him. As the meeting continues they discuss on how the traditional dances will be conducted and who would be involved. Mulili and kabito do not agree on these issues forcing tumbo to intervene and his single vote carries the day supporting mulili’s side of argument. Nicodemo who was against the presence of prisoners in the play gets support from Mulili who suggests that that the drama department of their national university should be given the responsibility of producing the play. Tumbo is opposed to the idea because he had already given jusper the green light to write the play and kabito had a son in the university and according to him it was not prudent to force grown-ups to do a thing they do not believe in. Mulili and kabito enter into an argument again because kabito thought that Mulili was too commanding. The meeting ends abruptly and the members take a one hour break but before they break Mulili threatens to deal with kabito.

·         Scene two

Events in this scene take place outside boss’s palace during the committee meeting one hour break. Mulili enters the scene and finds boss sitting outside his palace grooming himself by removing his grey hairs. Boss is startled by mulili’s presence because he didn’t hear him coming as he had crept on him. Mulili’s purpose of seeing boss was to spread rumours about kabito which were false. He tells boss how kabito had slandered his name but boss was not convinced because kabito was one of his loyal subjects. After hearing mulili’s accusations against kabito, boss gets enraged and accuses tumbo who might be the one who knew more about his dealings. Mulili disapproves him and this angers boss who orders Mulili to take two guards with him to silence kabito like they did to Doga and Nina.

·         Scene three

Events in this scene take place in an office setting. Jusper and tumbo are there talking about the events that happened earlier. Jusper had changed his mind about taking part in the planning of the play that was to be acted for the visiting head of state after what Regina had gone through in the hands of boss who had tried to take her by force. Tumbo tells jusper that they were in a crucial stage of the play and he cannot leave not after the death of kabito. We learn that through jusper that Regina had escaped from boss by jumping out of a ten foot window. Both tumbo and Mercedes were distressed by what had happened to Regina. On learning about the incident and complaining to boss, Mercedes gets locked up and tumbo who had not been in contact with boss felt that he had let Regina down and he tells jusper to pass his apologies to her. Tumbo then sends jusper to get the new rehearsal schedules and he threatens him that one faulty step and his studies could come to an abrupt end. As jusper exits the scene Nicodemo enters and asks tumbo if he has also heard about Kabito’s death through a fatal accident caused by drunk driving. Tumbo affirms the story and when Mulili enters the scene they act as if they don’t anything about Kabito’s death because they both knew that Mulili was responsible for the death. Mulili then tells them how saddened boss was when he heard about the death of kabito and that he had ordered a road to be named after kabito. The meeting that was to take place after the break is called off and tumbo tell the other committee members that he would let them know when the next meeting will take place.

·         Scene four

In this scene the stage is set for the final rehearsal of the visitor’s play. Tumbo and jusper are on stage and they are checking if the stage has been set right. Jusper tells tumbo that they will have to improvise with the resources that they have since they were in a developing country. Tumbo agrees with him because he didn’t want boss to get angry when he learns that they don’t have enough props. Tumbo and jusper were determined to see that nothing would go wrong since the freedom of six hundred prisoners depended on them including that of Mosese. Through tumbo and jusper’s conversation we learn that Mosese had changed his heart and had agreed to take part in the play. Tumbo informs jusper that he had not gone through the script and if boss should ask for the play jusper should be ready to face boss and answer him with precision. Jusper reassure tumbo that they will make an impression and that impression will also convince his fellow students that he was not a betrayer of their cause. Tumbo and jusper’s conversation leads to what happened to adika and tumbo wanted to know if indeed adika was jusper’s real brother.  Jusper agrees and tumbo asks him why he didn’t tell him before. Tumbo was also worried that boss didn’t know jusper’s real identity and he asks jusper to keep it a secret since all that boss knows is that jusper was a student.

When boss enters the scene he talks to jusper and tumbo and flashes back to past remembering his roles as an actor who died for little mistakes that were not his. Their talks turn to the rioting students who were against the influx of expatriates in Kafira. Boss tells jusper that when he goes back to the university, he should tell the university students that it was his duty to decide on the magnitude of mafia’s africanisation programme.

When the rehearsal of the play was about to begin, boss inquires about the rest of the actors and jusper informs him that they were dressing up.  He then tells tumbo to go and call all the staff to act as audience. He is then told the name of the play and the events that take place in the play. When he is told about the play, he wonders if the play is a comedy or a tragedy. The entry of Mulili and a few palace staff sets the stage for the rehearsal of the play but it comes to the attention of tumbo that one of the actors who were to play the chief of staff was not well and the doctor had recommended rest for him. This does not deter boss since he wanted to see the full dress rehearsal. Jusper then wanted to put someone to act as the chief of staff and boss accepts to stand for him for the moment. He is given the script and goes and sits on a chair as Jere and Mosese are brought in handcuffed. Their hands are untied so that they can do their rehearsal without restrictions. Before the rehearsal begins, jusper realizes that the carpenter who was to make the guns had failed to do so in time. This realization angers boss who orders his guards to bring their guns so as to assist as props.

The play within a play starts with Mosese and Jere arguing bitterly about two guns that they have. The argument between Mosese who acts as a lieutenant and Jere who acts as captain results in them seeking the opinion of their chief of staff who in this case was boss. When they approach boss to assist them in their argument Jusper becomes overexcited and boss realizes that what making jusper overexcited was not part of the script. It is at this point that boss realizes a plot to overthrow him and Mulili who tries to escape is stopped by Mosese. Sensing danger Mulili denies that boss was his cousin and when he asked to give a reason why boss should be spared he tell the actors to go ahead and kill him.  Mulili then blames boss for the hardship that was facing Kafira and for the death of kabito who died during the break of the committee meeting that was planning the entertainment of the visitor. When boss hears what Mulili was saying he comes to the realization that he had been betrayed by Mulili and he begs Jere to shoot him so that he can be spared the betrayal.  Jere then changes his mind about killing boss and instead he offers the gun to boss and asks him to shoot him but boss says that he had no reason for killing him. Jusper, who was now in another state of mind, asks for the gun and when he is given he shoots and kills Mulili. After killing him he turns around and addresses the audience by telling them that he did it for Kafira.