18 pages • 36 minutes read
Francis ImbugaBetrayal in the City
Fiction | Play | Adult | Published in 1976A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Act IIChapter Summaries & Analyses
Act II, Scene 1 Summary
The scene opens in a conference room moments before the meeting of the entertainment committee. A man named Kabito arrived first and has waited alone long enough to fall asleep. Nicodemus arrives next. He was the man who planted the evidence that resulted in Mosese’s arrest. Eventually Tumbo arrives, signaling the start of the meeting.
The meeting is mostly a charade. There is little serious discussion, as the committee ignores the daily business matters that should be the province of government officials. Rather, they use much of the time discussing how much, and in what manner, the committee members will be paid. After Mulili arrives, the conversation devolves into further nonsense as they conduct a brainstorming session of ideas with which to entertain the visiting head of state. It is clear that they have no objective beyond maintaining a façade that the citizens of Kafira are happy and fulfilled, wanting for nothing. Mulili and Kabito argue throughout. Finally the committee takes a break, promising to resume the meeting soon.
Act II, Scene 2 Summary
Boss makes his first appearance in the play. In his palace, in an obvious show of vanity and insecurity, he is plucking his gray hairs. The scene could be almost comic except that this represents the action of a man who hopes to remain in power forever. In order to do so, his appearance must not change. It is revealed that after the committee meeting, Mulili visited him to complain about Kabito. With no pretense of truth, Mulili lies and says that Kabito has been venomous in his denunciations of Boss. He claims that Kabito has said that all of Kafira’s economic woes can be attributed to Boss’s inept management of the fiscal situation. Boss is enraged and immediately orders Mulili to assassinate Kabito.
Act II, Scene 3 Summary
In the meeting room again, Jusper speaks with Mr. Tumbo. But there has been a change: Jusper tells Tumbo that he is no longer willing to write the play. He says that when Regina went to Boss in good faith, to intercede on behalf of Mosese, Boss attempted to rape her. During the conversation, it is also revealed that Boss’s wife is currently in prison for having complained about the incident with Regina.
Tumbo has just learned of Kabito’s untimely and suspicious death, carried out by Mulili. He cautions that it would be foolish of Jusper to refuse to write the play, as it could result in tragic consequences. Mulili enters and proceeds as if nothing is out of the ordinary. Tumbo and Jusper say nothing about Kabito’s death. Mulili feigns sorrow as he tells them that Kabito was killed in a hit and run. Further, he says that Boss is so heartbroken by the accident that he is planning to name a road after Kabito.
Act II, Scene 4 Summary
In Boss’s palace, the prisoners are rehearsing for the play. Tumbo and Jusper discuss their final preparations before they can begin. Tumbo cannot hide his fear. Boss’s temper has been worse than ever, and the play could end in calamity. The reader learns that Jusper has been expelled from the university after writing the play for the government. He is now seen as a pawn of corruption and a foe of intellectual courage.
Boss arrives and asks that Jusper proceed with the play. During their talk he explains that Jusper should be immune against all criticism in Kafira, from students or anyone else. After all, Boss claims, the students’ efforts have resulted in nothing but needless death—can’t Jusper see that? It comes to their attention that one of the prisoners has become ill. It will be impossible for him to participate in the rehearsal. In an act of supreme arrogance and naiveté, Boss offers to stand in for him. When it is shown that several of the guns that were to be used as props have gone missing, Boss also orders his police to surrender their firearms as substitutes for the play.
As the play proceeds, Jere and Mosese, who are both performers, manage to get the police officers’ guns. In a standoff, they challenge Boss and his thugs. It is suddenly obvious that Jasper has written a decisive coup into the script. Immediately entering survival mode, Mulili distances himself from Boss, saying that they have no relation at all and are nothing but distant cousins. He also says that Boss deserves to be killed for the ruin and slaughter he has brought to Kafira. Boss is so incensed by Mulili’s betrayal that he asks Jere to kill him. Jere refuses, saying that Kafira needs everyone, even Boss. But Jusper takes the gun and kills Mulili, avenging the desecration of his brother’s grave. As the play ends, the ghosts of Nina and Doga mourn their lost son.
