One was from Europe and the other from Africa!
Fate brought them together in an international conference and the destiny of their identical aspirations created the perfect platform for mutual friendship. It was an instant chemistry!
The two low-class politicians had had their fair share of misfortunes in life – something that had transformed them into fierce critics of their respective governments. Once in a blue moon, they got compensation by being sent to cover low-graded conferences from which they made good of the ‘forex’ derived. But still, they became synonymous with slot machines – No coin means, no play!
Although they were really good at what they did when it came to vested lobbying in the corridors of power, they still weren’t been able to hit the jackpot. They both kept reflecting on the time and money they had spent in pursuit of that elusive ‘Big Position’ that should have seen them reap the benefits of a long-term investment. After an exhaustive exchange of ideas, they both agreed to keep the pressure on their respective governments by maintaining their opportunistic brand of lobbying. One day, they hoped to get a breakthrough!
It was time to bid farewell but not until they had promised each other to maintain contact through regular correspondence.
A few years later, the African was to visit his counterpart in Europe! Surprise, Surprise! The European had become rich! He led his old-time African friend around his ‘Porshe’ house, well furnished and decorated with glittering silver. Wow! How did he do it? GOVERNMENT CONTRACTS!
After sharing the camaraderie of men on a similar mission, the European later took his gapping friend on a tour of duty. He had earlier won a contract to build roads. As they drove along one of the roads, the African noticed that the road was not up to standard. He posed a candid question to his friend and the response was: ‘‘I kept 20% of the contract money for myself. The rest, I applied a ‘cut and paste’, management accounting strategy. Of course, I can teach you the basics!’’
A couple of years later, the reverse came to happen! The European visited his African friend and found him excessively rich! He was living in a mansion full of gold-plated everything, with maids everywhere!!! ….. What! The European demanded an explanation!
As the African belaboured himself in a futile explanation, trying to justify a job that was not physical evident, the European was left stunned and breathless!
‘’You call this a road! Lord gracious! The whole place is full of dust, no tar, no nothing!’’
Callously, the African replied! ‘’Well, for us in African, it’s 100%!’’
ANALYSIS: The aforementioned African would definitely not have come from Sierra Leone! ….. Now wait a minute!….. I mean, even if he would have, then it must have been during the era of another regime – not the current one!
Unisa Kanu
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