Without a doubt, the answer is Kazija. She is a character in Said A. Mohamed’s Utengano, a Swahili book we were required to read in high school. The first sentences of the book are as follows: ‘Kuna mengi ambayo Kazija anachukia. Ndiyo anachukia. . . Kwanza, anamchukia mwanamme. Anamchukia mwanamme kwa sababu dhahiri, nayo ni kuwa amewekwa mbele, ingawa Kazija hajui na nani. Daima atamchukia mwanamme kwa sababu hiyo.’ Loosely translated into English, it means: ‘There are many things that Kazija hates. Yes, hates. . . The first is that she hates men. She hates men because they have always been put first, even though Kazija does not know by whom. She will always hate men because of that.’   

In the opening scene, Kazija has hatched a plan to ensure that a young man, Musa, and his father, Bwana Maksuudi, meet at her place, in order to enact her revenge on Bwana Maksuudi. This is because Bwana Maksuudi married Kazija’s friend’s daughter and then divorced her, leading to the girl’s death. She is seeing both men, but the two men are unaware of this. Musa arrives at her house first, and when Bwana Maksuudi arrives, she hides Musa under her bed. However, Bwana Maksuudi eventually finds Musa, and this leads to the downfall of his family. I am oversimplifying the subsequent plot, as it has been years since I read that book, but I always remember Kazija seething with anger, determined to revenge her friend’s daughter. And those first lines, how seething they were! Kazija is not a main character, but in the few instances we get to read of her, we glimpse her entire personality fully. I have never forgotten Kazija. Read Mugaa’s full interview here.