Kinjeketile by Ebrahim N. Hussein opens with a community oppressed by the harsh and exploitative rule of the German colonialists. The German colonisers force the African people to grow cotton for export rather than their own food crops, causing widespread famine and discontent.
The playwright projects these in the two scenes of Act I. In the first scene, we witness a dialogue between Bibi Kitunda and Chausiku about the cause of the smoke in Kinjeketile’s house. The mother wants her daughter to find out if the Kinjeketiles are cooking. Coincidentally, Bibi Kinjeketile comes around at this point to disprove this. The two of them talk about the famine in the land, and how they have been sustaining on roots. They talk about the effect of roots on the members of the community, with reference to how Bibi Bobali’s son died from eating poisonous roots.
Bibi Kinjeketile talks about how it is very difficult to get food. Bibi Kitunda attributes the famine to the farming system imposed on them by the German colonialists:
BIBI KITUNDA: Anyway, famine is inevitable. All the men are working in Bwana Kinoo’s plantation and not on their own. So, of course, there must be famine.
(p. 2, Kinjeketile)
She asks Bibi Kinjeketile if she has “some spinach, or even a bit of cassava” (p. 2) she can spare but the latter tells her she doesn’t. When questioned about the smoke coming from her house, Bibi Kinjeketile claims it is from the rituals her husband, Kinjeketile, is performing. She added that he has locked himself in for many days; that he has changed, and she doesn’t understand what he says any more. Bibi Kitunda notes that she saw Kinjeketile some time ago “looking at the water, very strangely; as if he had never seen it before” (p. 2). This is the first time Kinjeketile is mentioned in the play, and the playwright is emphatic about the changes Kinjeketile has undergone, that even his people now find him strange, and his bonding with the water, the result of which will inspire the resistance against the colonialists.
In the same scene, the playwright instantiates the brutality of colonialism and the cruelty of forced labour which the African natives are subjected to. Again, he uses another member of the Kitunda household as the recipient of these human indignities. This time around, it is the patriarch of the family, Kitunda, who is accompanied home by some men from the cotton plantation where they are all subjected to forced labour. He had been whipped by the overseer because “he straightened up, to ease his back a little.” When Kitunda appeared to resist, the headman ordered that he should be whipped some more. This goes to show the atrocities and dehumanisation that colonialism enabled. Kitunda is still angry and vindictive, and wants to talk out of tune, but is cautioned by Second Man in view of Mnyapala’s threatening presence and the knowledge that they are having their secret meeting that night.
The secret meeting, in the following scene, which takes place in front of Kitunda’s house, turns out to be a deliberative meeting, one out of many, about what should be done about the German colonialists, otherwise referenced as “The Red Earth” in this scene. The men are indignant about what the Red Earth has turned them to: “women (who) remain meek and silent” (p. 5) while they pay him taxes, and are forced to cultivate his cotton plantation, and cannot even call their country theirs anymore because he has taken it from them by force. Mngindo wants the pack to embark on an armed resistance against the Germans to kick them out. But Kitunda chips in his voice of reasoning and reminds them they do not have the firepower the Germans have, and he recommends they first steal guns from the colonial policemen first. He posits that their preparations should be done with utmost secrecy, considering that the colonialists have spies among them. In his words,
“We are a hungry people, and hunger drives us to betray one another.”
(p. 5, Kinjeketile)
An old man asks they fight immediately and recommends that they seek the spiritual backing and fortification of Hongo, a powerful spirit. Kitunda dismisses this suggestion with the claim that Hongo does not have “power over matters of life and death” (p. 6); that they need a concrete and more realistic plan.
However, Kitunda is crucified for appealing to reason and asking the others to be patient. He is called all manners of name: a coward, a woman, and Kinno’s slave (the whiteman’s slave). Mkichi emphatically calls the Wamatumbi men cowards. Consequently, there is a brawl between Kitunda and the caustic Mkichi.
Mngindo comes in between the two to separate their fight. On his part, he asserts they must unite first, a suggestion which the old man seconds despite Mkichi’s insistence on them fighting first. Kitunda then suggests possible alliances that may give them the number advantage in the eventuality of a war: the Wazaramo, the Wafuriji. He notes the importance of their unity, considering what he heard about “a big gun that kills many people at once” (p. 7). The playwright portrays the distrust in the meeting yet again with Mkichi questioning Kitunda whether he heard about or saw the big gun. He fires the question against the backdrop of Kitunda’s recent visit to Kilwa. The latter option would thus imply that Kitunda is a government collaborator. Kitunda insists he visited his brother in Kilwa and he rubbishes the thought of being a colonial stooge by showing them the scars on his back, ones he got from being beaten. He attributes his hesitation to the deaths of thousands of their people the war will bring. Mkichi counters this concern with the position that dying is better than the kind of servile lives they live where they are: “made to work like beasts in the cotton plantation”; “forced to pay tax”; and “die in hunger” because they cannot work on their shambas (p. 8). Kitunda, however, stresses that the few people who will survive the war will get the same treatment or worse.
They are still deliberating when Ngulumbaylo, who has been keeping watch all along, comes in to announce the coming of the overseer. This announcement leads to the abrupt end of the meeting and the disperse of the men.
Whatever hesitation Kitunda has left in declaring war against the whiteman, Mnyapala (the overseer) comes in, along with a policeman, to melt. As part of the brazen display of colonial impunity and dehumanisation, Mnyapala offers Kitunda two-day rest from work, on the condition that he “lends” them his daughter. Kitunda is so furious by this audacious offer that he hits Mnyapala. Consequently, the overseer and his police friend neutralise Kitunda, whip him, push away his resisting wife, and drag away his daughter.
Seeing that the two colonial stooges have left, the villagers troop out in their twos and threes to commiserate and identify with the Kitundas, but Bibi Kitunda angrily sends them away, citing the useless of their number and gathering.
The indignities Kitunda suffers in Act I of the play typify the dehumanisation the African natives undergo in the hands of colonialists and serve as a backdrop for the armed resistance which the play projects. They inform Kitunda’s ascension to leadership of the people’s secret meetings, and the armed resistance these meetings birth.
In Act II Scene I, the playwright uses a dialogue between two women to reflect on the Kitundas’ misfortune, the victimisation of Chausiku, the complicity of Mnyapala, Bibi Kitunda’s replacement of her husband in the plantation, and Kitunda’s secret role as the leader of the people. In the same scene, Kinjeketile walks into the river in a trance-like manner, with his wife, Kitunda and other onlookers concerned about his safety.
In Act II Scene II, there is a divided discussion about Kinjeketile. Some of them believe they should proceed with his funeral. Some suggest he might still be alive, even though he has been under water for over twenty-four hours. Some opine that he was possessed by and taken away by Hongo. Kitunda, however, suggests they look for Kinjeketile’s body along the banks of the river. They are in middle of this debate when Kinjeketile surprisingly walks in, carrying a small pot of water and a fly whisk. For someone who has been under water for hours, his garment is strangely dry.
Interestingly, Kinjeketile emerges with a spiritual vision that promises deliverance against the oppressive colonial apparatus. He reveals to them, trancelike, the clarion call from their ancestors and spirits to “destroy the red earth” in unity. He claims they have given them “the water of life” and “the whisk of water” to fortify them against bullets. In his words,
“He who partakes of this water no harm will befall him. No bullet will penetrate his body.”
(p. 16, Kinjeketile)
Thus, Kinjeketile declares war on the colonialists, stressing enough that they must first be united before they wage war. The ultimate goal of the war is to kick the whitemen out of the country. The people take up his war cry. He asks that the news of war be discreetly spread to other tribes, the very act, the whispering campaign, which is known nywiywila. He assigns this task to four young men. He subsequently gives Kitunda the task of building an army. He blesses them with the water which supposedly make their “bodies unassailable by bullets”.
This is how Kinjeketile brings about the Maji-Maji Uprising, with his claim that he received divine powers from the river spirit Hongo and his declaration that his people will be protected from the bullets of the German colonisers by drinking magic water. This water (maji), according to Kinjeketile, will make them invincible, and help them “destroy the Red Earth” (p. 19).
In Act II Scene III, Kitunda approaches Kinjeketile to raise his earlier observation about the latter’s dry clothes when he came out of the river. He appears sceptical and seems to question how Kinjeketile would come out of the river with dry clothes. Kinjeketile himself could not explain how that came about but does not rule out its possibility. Kitunda also notes that Kinjeketile’s physical appearance has changed. He also reminds the latter about what he said about Seyyid Said, the Sultan of Zanzibar, that they “will be the children of Seyyid Said” after they liberate themselves from the colonial stranglehold of the Germans. Kinjeketile does not seem to remember much of what he said, considering he said them in a trance-like state. He is quite surprised to hear he said all that, nonetheless. He cried that he has been cheated by the spirits. This is understandable, considering they will go from being servile to Germans to being “under Seyyid Siad” (p. 21), who is the ruler of “the land of Arabs” (p. 20).
We come across armed men in Act II Scene IV. They are the resistance soldiers under the command of Kitunda, and they are being trained in anticipation of their battles with the Germans. By now, Kinjeketile’s message has spread rapidly, and several ethnic groups who have been historically divided by tribal and regional differences, are rallying to his unity call and war cry to rise against the Germans. This unity is crucial, as colonial rule often depended on dividing local populations along ethnic lines.
The group is growing stronger with the continual additions to the liberation struggle from different ethnic groups. The Wazaramo have sent their messenger. Seeing this building momentum, one of the soldiers, Ngulumbaylo announces that they are ready for the war then, and his announcement riles up the war cries of the other men. Kitunda, however, shushes them with the reminder that Kinjeketile has not given them explicit order to proceed with the war yet. But Machela and Ngulumbaylo, contesting this position, insist that their spiritual leader has already given them “the water” (p. 23), so his order is not really needed. With the power of the water, they are already strong enough “to wipe out the Red Earth” (p. 23). The men disperse as Representative of the Wazaramo and Kitunda converse and the latter and the former iron out the seeming disparities between the Wazaramo’s Kolelo and Wamatumbi’s Hongo. They come to agree that both Kolelo and Hongo are one, especially in view of the knowledge that Kinjeketile stayed “under water without getting wet” (p. 25). The representative asks to see Kinjeketile but Kitunda tells him that he will go first and send for the messenger later.
Act II Scene V is where the encounter between Kitunda and Kinjeketile takes place. Kinjeketile has changed a lot from their previous encounter. He is somewhat hysteric and averse to light. It seems that Kitunda’s revelation of what he said about their people going from German’s exploitative colonialism to Seyyid Said’s imperialistic reign has taken a toll on his mental health. He is himself sceptical about his prophecy and considers the water given to them by Hongo a Greek gift, as it only makes them subservient to another colonial master after they win the war against the Germans. He confirms our earlier assumption that he is not in control when he is possessed:
“When I let him possess me he robs me of my thinking power. I don’t know a thing when he possesses me.”
(Pp. 29-30, Kinjeketile)
So, when Kitunda briefs him about the recent additions to the struggle and tells him of their readiness to proceed with the war, Kinjeketile becomes sceptical about the whole idea of going to war at that moment against the Germans when they will only end up as Seyyid Said’s subjects. It is his turn to try to dissuade Kitunda from proceeding with the war. He even blames Kitunda’s sudden enthusiasm in the war on his quest for revenge against the Germans for the rape of his daughter by the Askari. While Kitunda denies this self-vindictive allegation, Kinjeketile’s goes on to bare his own now shaky conviction about the water, about Hongo. Kitunda, in turn, calls him a “lowly, cheating scoundrel”, “dirty liar”, etc and would have go on to tell the people, except that he is reminded that no single soul will stay behind after listening to him. They will disperse, as they all are bound together by the power the water promises. He advises that they derive strength from themselves instead of relying on the water given to them by Hongo, whose Greek gift imply that he “is selling us (them), his own people, to another master” (p. 29).
Realising that the people, armed, fortified with the water, are not willing to listen to his message of patience, he admits that his message of resistance has become bigger than him, the messenger. In his words,
“A man gives birth to a . . . word. And the word . . . grows . . . it grows bigger and bigger. Finally, it becomes bigger than the man who gave it birth . . . .”
(p. 30, Kinjeketile)
It is with this knowledge that he asks that the Representative of the Wazaramo be ushered in. The representative again confirms with Kinjeketile if “Hongo and Kolelo (are) one and the same”. The answer to this question is just about the only condition for Wazaramo to join the liberation movement. An answer in the negative would mean they won’t join the fight. Kinjeketile, on his part, affirms that “Hongo is merely another name for Kolelo” and entreats him to do all he can to make the Wazaromo join them.
In Act II Scene VI, the men meet again. This is the second time they will be meeting. In between the first meeting and the second meeting, Kinjeketile has been possessed by Hongo and delivered message to the people. The men are waiting on him “to decide when to start the war” (p. 33). They are all set for the war and are beginning to fear someone may divulge their preparations to the Askari and thereby dampen the momentum of the war. They reiterate the need to proceed with the war, as they are already tired of waiting. Mkichi, in particular, is confident that with the water, they cannot fail. His assertion echoes the position of others on the potency of the water. Kitunda asks that they wait for Kinjeketile , and sensing that the people are not willing to wait, he beseechs them to wait to hear from Kinjeketile for at most one more day. They all agreed the following night.
Afterwards, Kitunda goes to Kinjeketile to tell him the people cannot wait for him anymore, as they have already invested their faith in the water he had given them. Kinjeketile is evidently frustrated that the people can’t give him more time. As he has done in the previous scene, he laments to himself again in this scene and the subsequent one about how his prophecy has enslaved him:
“A man gives birth to a word . . . the word grows bigger and bigger . . . and destroys the man who let it loose. A word born of man grows strong, and ends by enslaving him.”
(p. 36, Kinjeketile)
“The word . . . man breeds a word . . . and it knocks down its creator . . . destroying him.”
(p. 39, Kinjeketile)
He tries to reason with Kitunda to lead the people to war without necessarily depending on the water, but on their strength. He insinuates that overreliance on water over military stratagems could result in thousands of deaths. However, for Kitunda, Kinjeketile’s call for caution could only mean Hongo did not give him water; that he had deceived them with the water. The water and caution cannot exist side by side. Kinjeketile asks that he be given one more day, but Kitunda tells him it is not possible. Consequently, he agrees to come and speak to the people, something he does in Act II Scene VII. Judging by what he says and the manner he says it, he does not exactly tell them to proceed with the war. He tells them without conviction that they must be a little patience before they wipe out the Red Earth. But the soldiers, ever expressing their readiness, take his words as they can proceed with the war. He talks about the possibility of deaths, but they refute his worry with his own prophecy about the bullet-deflecting power of the water. It is in this manner and faith that the men proceed with the war, starting first with the hacking down of the cotton plantation which has for long represented the colonial power’s punitive measure to keep them in exploitative labour.
Observably, Act II focuses on the steps taken towards the concretisation of the resistance movement. It portrays the hesitation of Kinjeketile, the restlessness of the soldiers, and their overreliance on Maji for victory in the battles against the Germans. They have bought deep into the notion of the water that they throw caution to the wind and zero out the possibility and eventuality of casualties on their side.
Act III follows the trails of the war ignited in the previous Act.
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