The Wages of Corruption

Tension on an Arrival

107 The Wages of Corruption Tension on an Arrival T he first lady, in her usual munificence has been doing great for the depraved, especially children whom for no fault of theirs are the most vulnerable of humans. It was in this regard that her attention was turned to Griefland constituency. She had never set foot on this constituency although from time to time she heard about the suffering of the people who live there, especially when it came to roads. It was the constituency where the adage about roads bringing about development does not apply. People heard about Griefland only when elections were around the corner. The entire constituency was usually cut off from the rest of the country when the rains arrived. Unfortunately, the people have the tradition of taking back their dead home. So during these seasons when they are caught up by the rains, a lot of these persons end up being buried by the roadside. It was a blessing for anyone to die in the dry season, when in spite of the dust and deep gutters on the road, the corpse usually arrived at its resting place. This had been a preoccupation of the first lady for a long time because she had hardly understood why after several decades of nationhood some parts of the country could still not be reached by road. She had confronted her husband on several occasions about this vexing issue but it had each time degenerated into a domestic squabble. She decided she would let sleeping dogs lie, and concentrate on the things she could do. One of the things she could do was the creation and building of schools for the underprivileged. 108 Sammy Oke Akombi Griefland had been well noted for being underprivileged, so the first lady decided to take an interest in the place. First she sent a delegation there to carry out an analysis of the problems. Then she studied the report meticulously and decided she would create a school there. It would be a school for the fatherless child. Schools for fatherless children had been a serious preoccupation of the first lady’s. Even though it is easily claimed that mothers are the backbone of child education and development, experience has shown that the absence of a father in a home poses a very serious handicap. The scum of every community is usually dominated by fatherless children who are commonly referred to as akwara pikin. Appropriate education for them will obviously be a rescue and they will become useful citizens in a dependable citizenry. Besides, such schools will go a long way to reducing the number of street children. Such children are among the many people who have lost the will to live and have become dangerous to themselves and invariably the community. How else can it be explained that a young man will take the risk of attacking a young lady in broad daylight, just to get her cell phone, or kill a young tourist because he thinks the latter’s camera may fetch him a few francs. Such children need the education that will enable them to understand that every human being can be proud and happy only when they earn what they have. The first lady had set out establishing such schools around chosen places in the country. Griefland had the luck to be known by her and so the constituency was eventually placed on the list of beneficiaries of her magnanimity. Grieflanders received the news with much enthusiasm and naturally they drafted and sent a powerful motion of support to the first lady’s husband, wishing him eternal life. Shortly after, a team was sent to Griefland to identify a location for the school. Unfortunately, the constituency is made up of several communities and it was difficult for 109 The Wages of Corruption them to agree on where the school should be located. Each village wanted the school, so after much wrangling four sites were agreed upon. It was left for the team to visit the sites and make a decision. The team had to go to each of the four sites. Members of each community had as a duty to work hard enough to impress the team so that their site be chosen. In which case, wherever the team went they were not only fed sumptuously but were also given gifts that included livestock. So by the time...