(A revisit of Muhote leadership term. Open field in Nyanduma. Huge tent. Plastic chairs. Campaign banners fluttering loudly. A brass band playing with unnecessary confidence. At center stage; a large cornerstone covered by a white cloth. Women ululating. Children dancing. Photographers everywhere.)
MC: (shouting dramatically) People of Lari! Today… history is being made!
(Thunderous cheering. Muhote enters waving aggressively in all directions. Smiling like a man inaugurating heaven itself.)
Muhote: My beloved people! Development has finally arrived!
(The cloth is removed dramatically. A giant cornerstone revealed. Freshly painted. Beautiful. Completely alone.)
Muhote: (reading proudly) “This Project Was Officially Launched By Honorable Muhote.”
Crowd: (whispering among themselves) Which project?
Muhote: A modern road! Tarmac! Drainage! Street lights! Prosperity!
Mama Nyanduma: When does construction begin?
Muhote: (laughing confidently) Soon. Very soon. Immediately soon.
(Drums erupt again. Ululations. Camera flashes.)
Mzee Kihoto: And thus…another ceremony was successfully completed. Which, in Lari politics,
is often more important than the actual project.
(Lights shift. Another village. Another tent. Another crowd. Another cornerstone. Only the location has changed.)
Crowd: Yesterday; Nyanduma. Today; Kinale. Tomorrow;
Gitithia.
Muhote: (energetically again) Today we launch a modern water project!
Kinale Man: Where is the water?
Muhote: Deep inside the forest. A good catchment area.
Kinale Man: Where are the pipes and pumping machine?
(Long silence.)
Crowd: (mocking softly) He launches; beginnings without middles, promises without budgets, and stones without roads.
(Someone quietly writes on the cornerstone: “Mundû Wa Maheni”)
Crowd: The man of launching ceremonies.
(Huge laughter. Lights shift. Paper Kingdom. Muhote’s office. Large stacks of files everywhere. Signed contracts. Stamped documents. No workers. No engineers. No machines. No budgets. Only paperwork.)
Crowd: Projects in files. Projects in speeches. Projects in imagination.
(Muhote stamps papers proudly.)
Muhote: This road: launched. This school: launched. This hospital: launched. This ICT hub: launched. This stadium: launched.
(The Budget enters silently. Empty-handed. Looks around sadly. Shakes head slowly. Exits.)
Gitithia Youth: Honourable Muhote…this project was already launched last year.
Muhote: Correct. This is the re-launch.
Gitithia Youth: And the one before that?
Muhote: That was the pre-launch.
Crowd: (bursting into laughter) Mûgûrûki! The Re-launcher!
(Lights shift slowly. Cornerstones Everywhere. The stage gradually fills with cornerstones. Large stones. Small stones. Painted stones. Decorated stones. Everywhere.)
Crowd: Cornerstones for; roads, schools, tents, plastic chairs, water projects, hospitals, ICT hubs, stadiums, public Wi-Fi, markets, streetlights, drainage, sewer systems. (Pause.) No roads. No hospitals. No water. No buildings. Only stones.
Mama Nyanduma: Do we now eat stones?
Kinale Man: Do we drink inscriptions?
Gitithia Youth: Can we connect to Wi-Fi written in cement?
(Laughter slowly dies into silence.)
Crowd: (slow realization) Lari is now paved…not with roads…but with lies carved in concrete.
(Lights shift violently. Campaign season returns. Posters everywhere again. Muhote speaking at every shopping center. Microphones. Whistles. Crowds smaller now. More suspicious.)
Muhote: My people! I worked tirelessly! Look around you! Observe development!
(He points proudly toward cornerstones.)
Crowd: King of stalled projects! Ruler of beginnings! MP of nothingness!
Gitithia Youth: (firmly now) Honourable…we cannot eat launches.
Mama Nyanduma: We cannot harvest cornerstones.
Kinale Man: We cannot walk on speeches.
(For the first time… Muhote hesitates. No immediate answer. No slogans. No performance. Only silence.)
Mzee Kihoto: And suddenly…the applause weakened. Because eventually…even the mentally poorest citizen notice when ceremonies become substitutes for service.
(Lights dim slowly.)
Crowd: Beware of leaders who confuse; movement with progress, ceremonies with service, noise with work, and launches with development. For a people impressed too long by beginnings…shall eventually inherit only cornerstones.
(Lights fade slowly on the cornerstones. Sound of distant campaign drums fading away.)
MC: (shouting dramatically) People of Lari! Today… history is being made!
(Thunderous cheering. Muhote enters waving aggressively in all directions. Smiling like a man inaugurating heaven itself.)
Muhote: My beloved people! Development has finally arrived!
(The cloth is removed dramatically. A giant cornerstone revealed. Freshly painted. Beautiful. Completely alone.)
Muhote: (reading proudly) “This Project Was Officially Launched By Honorable Muhote.”
Crowd: (whispering among themselves) Which project?
Muhote: A modern road! Tarmac! Drainage! Street lights! Prosperity!
Mama Nyanduma: When does construction begin?
Muhote: (laughing confidently) Soon. Very soon. Immediately soon.
(Drums erupt again. Ululations. Camera flashes.)
Mzee Kihoto: And thus…another ceremony was successfully completed. Which, in Lari politics,
is often more important than the actual project.
(Lights shift. Another village. Another tent. Another crowd. Another cornerstone. Only the location has changed.)
Crowd: Yesterday; Nyanduma. Today; Kinale. Tomorrow;
Gitithia.
Muhote: (energetically again) Today we launch a modern water project!
Kinale Man: Where is the water?
Muhote: Deep inside the forest. A good catchment area.
Kinale Man: Where are the pipes and pumping machine?
(Long silence.)
Crowd: (mocking softly) He launches; beginnings without middles, promises without budgets, and stones without roads.
(Someone quietly writes on the cornerstone: “Mundû Wa Maheni”)
Crowd: The man of launching ceremonies.
(Huge laughter. Lights shift. Paper Kingdom. Muhote’s office. Large stacks of files everywhere. Signed contracts. Stamped documents. No workers. No engineers. No machines. No budgets. Only paperwork.)
Crowd: Projects in files. Projects in speeches. Projects in imagination.
(Muhote stamps papers proudly.)
Muhote: This road: launched. This school: launched. This hospital: launched. This ICT hub: launched. This stadium: launched.
(The Budget enters silently. Empty-handed. Looks around sadly. Shakes head slowly. Exits.)
Gitithia Youth: Honourable Muhote…this project was already launched last year.
Muhote: Correct. This is the re-launch.
Gitithia Youth: And the one before that?
Muhote: That was the pre-launch.
Crowd: (bursting into laughter) Mûgûrûki! The Re-launcher!
(Lights shift slowly. Cornerstones Everywhere. The stage gradually fills with cornerstones. Large stones. Small stones. Painted stones. Decorated stones. Everywhere.)
Crowd: Cornerstones for; roads, schools, tents, plastic chairs, water projects, hospitals, ICT hubs, stadiums, public Wi-Fi, markets, streetlights, drainage, sewer systems. (Pause.) No roads. No hospitals. No water. No buildings. Only stones.
Mama Nyanduma: Do we now eat stones?
Kinale Man: Do we drink inscriptions?
Gitithia Youth: Can we connect to Wi-Fi written in cement?
(Laughter slowly dies into silence.)
Crowd: (slow realization) Lari is now paved…not with roads…but with lies carved in concrete.
(Lights shift violently. Campaign season returns. Posters everywhere again. Muhote speaking at every shopping center. Microphones. Whistles. Crowds smaller now. More suspicious.)
Muhote: My people! I worked tirelessly! Look around you! Observe development!
(He points proudly toward cornerstones.)
Crowd: King of stalled projects! Ruler of beginnings! MP of nothingness!
Gitithia Youth: (firmly now) Honourable…we cannot eat launches.
Mama Nyanduma: We cannot harvest cornerstones.
Kinale Man: We cannot walk on speeches.
(For the first time… Muhote hesitates. No immediate answer. No slogans. No performance. Only silence.)
Mzee Kihoto: And suddenly…the applause weakened. Because eventually…even the mentally poorest citizen notice when ceremonies become substitutes for service.
(Lights dim slowly.)
Crowd: Beware of leaders who confuse; movement with progress, ceremonies with service, noise with work, and launches with development. For a people impressed too long by beginnings…shall eventually inherit only cornerstones.
(Lights fade slowly on the cornerstones. Sound of distant campaign drums fading away.)
