The Wages of Corruption

The Phoney Phone Call

101 The Wages of Corruption The Phoney Phone Call L ike every responsible citizen, I left my home one morning at quarter past seven in the morning. Just a few minutes before half past seven I was already seated in my office ready for the day’s work. After examining my day’s planning I started work in earnest. At ten o’clock my secretary entered to inform me I had a phone call from the state house. “A call from the state house,” I muttered. “Pass it on” I requested. “Hello, Tim here, Tim Tabufo” “Hello Dr Tabufo, I’m col. Zambo Zam of the state house security.” “I’m sorry, I’ve not heard that name before. What can I do for you?” “It’s what you can do for yourself doctor” “In that case there’s nothing to do.” “I’m sorry but it’s urgent. The state house needs your CV and your party card.” “What for?” “For your good.” “For my good? I don’t understand. Something sinister must be going on. I’m very sure I haven’t asked the state for anything and so I shouldn’t expect anything that will be given me on the bases of my CV and party card. And by the way what party card are you asking for?” “The People’s Party of course.” “That’s where you got it all wrong. I’m not a member of the people’s party. So can you now leave me alone?” “No, not when the Head of State needs you.” 102 Sammy Oke Akombi “What! The head of state needs me? Does he even know me?” “Yes, he knows you very well and he wants you to help him get this country out of the hopeless mess it has got itself into. The Head of State is counting so much on your cooperation.” “You say, you’re colonel who?” “Zambo Zam, doctor.” “All right col. Zambo Zam. Thanks very much for the call. I’ll call you back.” “I’ll be patient in waiting.” When I put down the phone, I recalled the story of many a civil servants who had been conned into coughing out millions to ensure dream positions in government. There was this good friend who had received such a phone call requesting him to take temporary accommodation in a suite in a five-star hotel pending his appointment as prime minister. The Head of state was to meet him in his suite and discuss installation arrangements and other issues. Every day the con men came up with one story or another which made my friend to freely sign out cheques. By the time he knew he was being conned, he had spent everything he had as savings. Come to think of it, some of the people involved were actually linked to the state house. I put down my head and thought hard. I wondered whether I should call the state house and inquire about Col. Zambo Zam. And if he was unknown, how would someone decide to use an institution like the state house to con people. This is tantamount to dragging state institutions in the mud. Has our level of corruption brought us this low? I wondered and kept wondering at the expense of what I had earlier planned to do. Then the phone rang. “Dr Tim Tabufo,” the caller inquired. “Speaking.” 103 The Wages of Corruption “Well Dr Tabufo, I’ve just remembered that I didn’t leave you a number to call back so I decided to call again. But all the same I should remind you about the seriousness of our previous discussion. The Head of State is very much aware that the state in its current state is rotten and to fix it he needs people like you.” “But Col. Zambo Zam, remember I don’t belong to the party and you had said that one of the requirements for such considerations was a party card.” “Yes, I had said so but when a house is on fire, even an enemy can be called upon to help put it off. So this is an opportunity for you to serve your nation.” “All right Col Zam. I would have thought that you have up-to-date information about whoever you want to use at the state house. How come you’re requesting me to send you my CV.” “It...