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Tale of King Mukayo, and the land of Nagunda
Author: Charles Onyango Obbo. PHOTO/FILE
What you need to know:
- The kingdom is no longer at ease. Mukayo sleeps while standing.
We know the tech-savvy Wakanda kingdom from the blockbuster film “Black Panther”. And we know the rival Jabari nation, whose Lord M’Baku battled Wakanda’s King T’Challa for the throne.
The story we don’t know is of the other 50 nations in the mountains and hills across the continent. They are not as cutting-edge as Wakanda, but some have far larger armies.
This is the tale of Nagunda, one of those nations with a large army, and fertile lands on its 42 hills, but many of whose citizens often go hungry. Nagunda’s ruler is the strong, enduring warrior King Mukayo.
Mukayo’s grand palace is built on top of Lapa, the biggest hill in Nagunda, which is surrounded by smaller hills. Most of the springs and wash-off when it rains from the small hills pour down in the valley surrounding Lapa.
The river in Lapa’s valley never runs dry. During the drought, the residents of the surrounding hills used to bring their cows to drink of its water, and they would also get a temporary grant from the crown to grow food along its edges.
Previous Nagunda kings had allowed the people to freely water their cows and farm in the drought season in the valleys. When the House of Mukayo seized power, it banned the practice, saying the peasants were destroying the wetlands and silting up the river.
When the wetlands recovered and the river filled up again, the peasants were allowed back in.
However, after some years, King Mukayo said the peasants would have to pay a royal levy. The cattle owners are required to give one of 10 cows that drink from the valley to the king. Farmers have to surrender one out of every seven-and-a-half sacks to the place.
The peasants have become restless. What made matters worse is that concubines and friends of princes’ in Mukayo’s court and hangers-on in the palace, are allowed to water their cattle and farm without paying the royal levy.
It was not always this way. Makuyo’s rule had promised to be the most successful Nagunda had seen in at least 80 years. Then he lost his way. Greed, corruption, nepotism, and debauchery set in.
Mukayo was nicknamed the “people’s king” in his early rule. In the last 20 years, fearful of a resentful population, Mukayo no longer travels around the kingdom rubbing shoulders with the masses as he used to.
He has built cable cars that connect to the top of 30 of the 42 hills of the kingdom. He travels by cable cars, where the local chiefdoms gather to meet him and tell him the stories he wants to hear about his realm. They are handed sacks with money, and sometimes given carriages, by Mukayo to placate them. They have learnt from the king; when they go back, they stuff their faces with the goodies and leave the people poor and hungry.
Nagunda was once a wretched kingdom. Mukayo gave it a reputation for relative stability. But to keep his power and secure the kingdom, Mukayo set up four guards.
These guards established three rings that enforce his rule and protect him and the palace. The first ring of defence is manned by the Lejaleja Rifles and the Nagunda Police. They are mostly children of the peasants and working class and are poorly paid.
The second ring of defence is handled by the Tokanga Musketeers. They are better paid and recruited from chiefly homes and clans that are distantly related to Mukayo and his court.
In the third ring, which also functions as the royal protection guard, is the Zinkwa Samurai. Some are Mukayo’s blood relatives, but they are mostly drawn from royal homes or were born on the prestigious Lapa hill. They get paid handsomely, have access to the most lucrative patronages in the realm, go to study at military academies in other kingdoms, marry women from upper-class houses, and are exempt from most rules – like traffic rules, paying taxes, or building on protected lands, to name a few of their privileges.
A recent invasion of the blue locust in half the nations on the continent, tsunamis on the coast, and a vicious drought have brought a lot of hardship all around. The Lejaleja Rifles and Nagunda Police have not got their dues for two months. The lower ranks of Tokanga Musketeers have also not been paid.
The kingdom is awash with rumours of some of them plotting with the peasants and workers in the hills against Mukayo. Recently unknown people dug up the foundations of 15 of the cable car posts. Mukayo was livid. Wedo Nzakwe, a historian, who had been secretly documenting the corruption and bubbling unrest in Nagunda was disappeared by the Zinkwa Samurai. The kingdom is no longer at ease. Mukayo sleeps while standing.
Mr Onyango-Obbo is a journalist, writer and curator of the “Wall of Great Africans”. Twitter@cobbo3
