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"Y" is always a consonant as in "yes" (IPA: /j/)
The only time when "y" is not that sound is when it's "ny". "Ny" is a single consonant written using two letters, just like "sh" is. It's the same as the ñ sound in Spanish (IPA: /ɲ/). It's kind of like pronouncing "n" and "y" at the same time. If you look in the mirror, the front of your tongue should be down when you say "ny", with the sound being formed by the back of your tongue arching up against the palate.
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Yeah "ny" in "nya" is the consonant. Even in words like "kunywa" and "nywele", the whole of "nyw" is the same consonant, and the two words only have two syllables.
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According to the English Wiktionary, mnyama, wanyama is a reassignment of nyama ("meat") to an animate class. It also states that the first meaning of its Proto-Bantu root, *ǹɲàmà, was "animal" and the second meaning was "meat".
