12 October 2020
Nganya, the gritty Kenyan drama on the matatu industry, comes to Showmax
The matatu (minibus taxi) industry in Nairobi is a lucrative and a colourful one, but it is also an industry riddled with crime and violence, and often accused of colluding with criminal gangs to hijack passengers. It is this dangerous and murky world that Nganya – the gritty Kenyan drama series now streaming on Showmax – taps into.
Created by Rafiki actress Nice Githinji and directed by Bruce Makau (Kina’s Jabali), Nganya is mainly set in Eastlands, a notorious crime hub in Nairobi. The drama series follows the lives of matatu driver Gathee (Ndungu wa Maina, Kina) and his conductor Jamoe (Isaac Kiarie, Nairobi Half Life) as they go about their day-to-day operations transporting passengers across the city, while also caught up in criminal activities in their struggles to make ends meet.
A smooth talker with the ladies but still a devoted family man, Gathee is driven to a life of crime to score some quick money to put his daughter through private school. And Jamoe finds himself indebted to a dangerous street gang who wouldn’t think twice about smashing his knees with a hammer if he doesn’t pay back what he owes.
Making bad decisions one after another, these two soon find themselves entangled with corrupt policemen and powerful drug dealers who answer to even more powerful men. Violence erupts as each party looks to control the criminal underworld, and Gathee and Jamoe are trapped right in the middle of it as they fight not only for their lives but those of their families and friends as well.
Nganya also stars its creator, Nice Githinji, as Malaika, a local prostitute who also doubles as a drug peddler for the very corrupt cop Donga (played by Peter Oruka, Maria). Other cast include Mbeki Mwalimu (Sincerely Daisy, Selina) as Gathee’s loyal wife Mamu and Tim King’oo (Tuko Macho) as the fur-obsessed drug dealer Moss, while Ywaya Xavier, who embodied Tom Mboya in the highly successful 2019 edition of Too Early for Birds, plays Moss’s right hand man.
Binge Nganya S1-2 on Showmax.
What will be the cost of vengeance? Empini S1, coming soon
The Roast Of Minnie Dlamini, now streaming
More Mzansi gold
The Real Housewives of Durban on the upcoming reunion
The RHODurban cast share their thoughts ahead of The Real Housewives of Durban S4 reunion, hosted by MaBlerh. The reunion will air on Showmax on 15 and 22 May 2024.
The Mommy Club Season 2 episode 12 recap: Lines in the sand
In episode 12 of Showmax’s The Mommy Club, Nozipho goes to see a medium, and Hermajesty wants closure for her husband’s death.
Kristen Raath on her funniest, and most humiliating moment, on the set of Wyfie
Kristen Raath talks about her funniest and most humiliating moment on the university drama Wyfie, now streaming on Showmax.
9 most shocking moments in The Illuminated
Are you strong enough to binge Showmax Original documentary series The Illuminated? Here’s what you’ll need to prepare yourself.