The Way Selected Imbuga Plays Interrogate the Socio-Political System in Kenya

Abstract

The main objective of this article was to re-read Francis Imbuga's selected plays, The Successor, Game of Silence, and Betrayal in the City, on how they interrogate the 21st century Kenya's socio-political system. The article used primary data gathered from the three selected Imbuga plays, while the secondary data were obtained from the University of Dar es Salaam main library and online library. This study is qualitative. The data for the study were obtained through close reading and were analyzed by classifying them into themes. By using new-historicism theory, it was revealed that the three Imbuga's plays interrogate the 21st C Kenyan socio-political situation in different ways by revealing socio-political issues like corruption, betrayal and poor leadership, oppression, and suppression, cruelty against women, conflicts, disunity, disillusionment, and poor power succession. The article concludes that Imbuga's literary works are timeless because they endlessly reflect the real socio-political situation of Kenya. This fact makes literature to be considered as a tool for social change