MEJA MWANGI - POWER

"... i find this novel a great piece
of literature, impressive and
despairingly reflecting the
realities, despite its ending. I
actually virtually saw it as a
piece of theatre and could very
well imagine it performed on
stage. It has a power reminding
me of Waiting for Godot".
ruedi küng
Schweizer Radio DRS

The Big Chiefs

HM Books

After a successful career as a government Minister, the
Old Man breaks ranks with the Big Chiefs and is banished
to a remote outpost in the Northern Frontier. In an
emotional recollection to the Boy, the Old Man reveals how
the Big Chiefs used the colonial labels of tall and short to
set their subjects against one another. Although he is
caught up in the genocide that ensues, the Old Man lives
to tell his story, albeit with bitterness. The mind-boggling
question to the Boy is why a people who fasted and
feasted together, birthed and buried together, lived and
reasoned together; intermarried and integrated, should
suddenly rise against kith and kin. Yet, like the Old Man
who had made it to the top, romanced with power and
wealth and came tumbling down to the Pit, the young
generation is only but searching for a spark of light to
illuminate the inherent evil so evident in the hearts of men
who believe in the right of might.

In this adaptation of Meja Mwangi’s novel, The Big Chiefs, the
author has written an intriguing play.

POWER is a play about greed for power at the expense of
humanity.