"I Will Marry when I Want" - African Playwrights Examine National Pride and Imperialism

I Will Marry When I Want is a play that looks at post-colonial Africa and how neo-colonialism has served to benefit imperialists rather than Africans. The story is about a Kenyan farm laborer, Kiguunda, and his wife Wangeci and their efforts to protect the small bit of land they own from imperialists who want to buy it and build an insecticide factory on it. 

The one bit of pride both Wangeci and Kiguunda have is the title-deed to their land hanging on the wall of their home, but even that is dissatisfactory since they only own one-and-a-half acres and could have owned more had they not listened to the Christians who implored them to give up their materialism, while others from the Mau Mau groups who liberated Kenya bought up most of the land and sold them back to European, American, and Japanese imperialists. 

The story's conflict begins when Wangeci and Kiguunda are told by local Christians to sanctify their marriage in a church. Later, they also learn that their daughter, Gathoni, wants to marry the son of one of the wealthy men in town. Wangeci and Kiguunda turn to Ahab Koi wa Kanoru to set up a marriage for their daughter. wa Kanoru, who is a Christian, tells them he will only agree to marry his son and their daughter if the Kiguundas are converted to Christianity. 

They agree reluctantly, but soon realize they are too poor to pay for the bridal reception for their daughter. wa Kanoru offers them two alternatives: either sell their land to the Americans, English, and Germans, or turn their land over as equity for a bank loan. Kiguunda quickly rejects the first alternative, but agrees to give up his title-deed to the bank for the loan. 

When Gathoni becomes pregnant with John Muhuuni, he rejects her and refuses to marry her. This brings the story to a head when Kiguunda demands reparations from wa Kanoru by branding a sword against him. He and Wangeci agree to have wa Kanoru sign an agreement, but wa Kanoru's wife pulls a gun on Kiguunda and whatever advantage the Kiguunda's have diminishes. In the end, the Kiguunda's lose their land to the bank, which auctions it off to the white imperialists.