FOREWORD
How many heads of state are attending the summit?
50 heads of state
"Then, answer my question."
Which question has Ms Mckenzie asked Dr. Afolabi? (2 marks)
"l see I had totally misjudged you, Ms. McKenzie." He had seen a Iamb: vulnerable. Now he saw a lioness: dangerous. "l thought you were a proper good-mannered journalist. Instead, I just see one of those fire eaters who confuse journalism with bad manners."
"Dr. Afolabi, you haven't answered my..."
"What makes you (Dr. Afolabi) this optimistic about Africa's future now, when in your book you were very pessimistic?"
"Excellent. Keep that mobile phone on at all times, day and night, rain or shine. From now on, I will be calling you often, even unexpectedly, but only through this number. So always have the mobile phone on. Unlike your hotel phone, it is completely secure, which means I can talk to you on it freely."
"So you will tell me your real name now? "Pastor Chiamaka asked.
Before the excerpt, Pastor Chiamaka receives a call in his hotel room. The caller asks about the content of the briefcase. In the excerpt, the caller tells Chiamaka to keep the phone close and refuses to disclose his identity to Chiamaka.
"That's correct. Now, out of every one hundred people in that age range, thirty of us are diabetic. We are unable to regulate the sugar level in our blood, and that kills most of us. This medicine is what keeps those of us who survive alive." He brandished his cellophane pouch again. "We shoot it into our veins with needles like that one."
"That may be so, sir. But you cannot take that stuff in. Leave it here with me."
"I'll do no such thing if I have to wait here until the cows come home."
"What cows? Sir, you are holding up the line." "This needle is my life, officer."
Melusi and the security officer are still in a push-and-pull conversation regarding a needle the officer has discovered in his briefcase. The security officer wants Melusi to leave the needle at the checkpoint, but Melusi maintains he cannot leave behind the only object that keeps him alive.
After Kimani fills a vacancy in University of Nairobi's Institute of Development Studies, he demands for two changes at the university in quick succession. What are these changes? (2 marks)
• Kimani demands his new university strive for relevance to the society, not excellence of its work.
• Kimani demands that the university becomes an agent of change, not a mere spectator of it.
The heads of state boycott a closing ceremony organized by Gambia. What reason does a paper give for the boycott?
The boycott was as a result of a bitter disagreement the heads of state had earlier.
"Why do you want to steal my wife?"
"The word I used is 'marry'. You prefer 'steal'?"
Briefly explain what happens just before this excerpt. (3 marks)
"What good is she to you?" Kimani cursed himself for that wording: he had degraded not only his wife but also himself, and in the same breath, upgraded his foe.
"What good is she to me? Because she is much older than I am? — is that what you mean? Then hear my answer. Old is gold."
• Kimani goes to Mr Walomu's office to confront him about his stealing of his wife, Asiya.
• He derogatorily greets Walomu, referring to him as "fat baboon".
• Mr Walomu warns Kimani that he would rather use nothing but civil language while in his office.
• Walomu offers Kimani a seat in his office but he declines and remains standing.
• Walomu guesses that Kimani had come to ask him why he wanted to marry Asiya.
"I'm leaving" she said. The bed creaked.
"What do you mean you are leaving? "Professor Kimani asked. He knew the answer: She did not want to stay with him anymore. He pressed her. "What's going on, Asiya?"
"Newbom has asked me to marry him," she said.
This part he did not know. "Newborn Walomu?" he asked. Then he sat up in his half of the bed.
Karanja and Asiya had buried their daughter, TuniM. Six months later, Asiya's attitude towards Karanja changed, she loathed him. She later announces that she is leaving him to get married to Newborn After the excerpt, Karanja goes to Newborns office to confront him.
Briefly explain what happens what happens after this excerpt. (2 marks)
"when I heard you were heard at The Seamount Hotel, Dr Afolabi, I decided to come and see you. So here I am. This is also funny."
"Funny?"
"Yes. I expected to see an academic scarecrow dressed in jeans. Instead, I see a well- dressed man who might well be a business person..."
Mckenzie apologises to Dr Afolabi for disappointing him with her demeaning statement. He asks his age and recommends he take a photo of himself as a memory of his age.
From elsewhere in the novel, how does conflict arise between Kimani and Asiya over the death of their daughter? (4 marks)
Asiya blames Kimani for the death of Tuni. Before Tuni embarks on the journey that leads to her death, she asks her father whether she can use her father's car for her journey. However, Kimani says the car is down once again. This stirs anger in Asiya, who erupts, comparing her husband to Newborn, who had left the teaching profession to join, and now owns four vehicles. On this premise, Asiya bases her allegations on Kimani's failure to seek greener pastures to Tuni's death.
What happens to the man caught selling confidential documents marked for 100 eyes only?
He disappeared never to be seen again.
Explain what happens immediately before this extract (3mks)
Forty-nine foreign heads of state were in Banjul for the summit. All looked happy, and why
not? Had they not escaped from troublemakers in their home countries? They saw a stay
free from trouble ahead of them here, in the Gambia, a country everyone kept calling 'the
land of Kunta-kinteh'. All hoped to get from their stay as much rest as possible. Of course,
at some point, they would each other take the flow and, as fans back home expected,
address the summit, but this was something that they could do with little or no effort at all.
For Gambians, though, the presence of so many visiting dignitaries was not fun.
Ms Mckenzie, a reporter for the Gambian News, is interviewing Dr Afolabi on the summit scheduled to take place at The Seamount Hotel in Banjul. Ms Mckenzie receives an urgent call from her boss and asks Afolabi to summarise his response so she can leave. She then asks to reschedule the meeting, but the interviewee declines, telling her to go and read well his book, Failure of States, before organising another interview. Forty-nine heads of state in Banjul means that Banjul was hosting a summit attended by forty-nine presidents of different countries in Africa. (3 marks)
"And young they'll still be the day I die,"Mr Walomu added. "Karanja, you know the saying: 'A real bull dies with green grass in its mouth."
Then why do you want to steal my wife? She is old. Not the green grass you want in your mouth.'
"l just told you why: Old is gold. Anyway, 'stealing' - to use your word - is not all that
Prof. Karanja confronted Newborn in his office for 'stealing' his wife, Asiya. Newbom's mockery and arrogance irritate Karanja.
What happens after this excerpt?
"One Chineke Chiamaka," he said. "The man was claiming that I chided him for being drunk,when all he had had was a"Péisi." He wriggled in his improvised bed to protest his innocence against that claim. "It beats me how he got my suite phone number in the first place," he added. "Anyway, I did not chide him. Why do people like to tell lies?"
After
• Fiona tells Abiola that lying is perhaps fun.
• Fiona informs Abiola of a young man, Nick Sentinel, at the VOA who has
a machine he calls the Silent Listener that snoops on wireless transmissions.
• Abiola wonders if Fiona worked with the VOA yet she had told him she
worked for the Gambian News.
Who is Pastor Chiamaka? (2 marks)
The former pastor at Church Inside Africa in Lagos, Nigeria.
How do the Gambians respond to the views expressed by the visiting heads of state?
That the foreigners have freedom of expression and the right to say anything they please.
What happens before this excerpt? (3 marks)
"Mother thinks that's big-big enough. Are you ready for tomorrow?"
"As ready as I ever will be, I guess, mother." He went and sat beside her.
"And do you still think the summit will adopt Way Omega?"
"Only twelve hours to go before we find out."
"Sorry. Is it just me or has it actually got colder over the past two days? You don't sound so upbeat today as you did two days ago."
Before
• Abiola wants to revise his notes on the presidents' debate before going to bed.
• Ms McKenzie pays him a surprise visit.
• Feigning a mother-son allegiance, she asks Abiola how his day was.
I'm not sure. Perhaps it's fun," she said.
"Lying is fun?"
"l said I'm not sure. Now you did a good turn for me downstairs. They say one good turn deserves another. So, in retum, can I tell you something I'm not yet sure I should tell you?"
'Sure. Go ahead."
"They have this youth at the VOA. His name is Nick Sentinel. What does he do? He snoops on wireless transmissions, with a machine he calls-wait for it-the "Silent Listener'. While I was there this moming...'
The phone rings in Afolabi's suite. His mood changes after speaking to the caller who is Chiamaka and is complaining that Afolabi chided him for being drunk. Fiona tells him about Nick's discovery and how she works for VOA on loan The content of Nick's discovery makes Afolabi apprehensive and he decides to end
McKenzie..." He changed his mind-a voice inside him was saying he had become too defensive. "On further thought, let me not. I don't think I have to defend my book before anyone, least of all before a third-rate reporter for the Zambian News:
"Gambian, she said.
'Whatever!"
"All right, Dr. Afolabi. Now can you think through your book and give me an example, a specific example, on which Way Omega agrees with your book?"
'Yes, I can."
Ms. Mckenzie mobile phone rings. Her boss calls her back to the office and she informs Dr. Afolabi that she gathers her things
Who is Newborn Walomu? (2 marks)
He had been a junior colleague of Prof. Karanja at the university. He left teaching and joined politics and is now a member of parliament.
What is Gambia’s feeling about the summit?
In their own light, they see it as the most successful summit ever held they illuminate high points and blur out low points.
What happens before this extract?
First, there was a loud crash. Some moving object had hit another moving object. A trailer hooked to a truck negotiating a turn at a roundabout had broken free, spun outward, and ended up on top of a minibus in an adjacent lane. The drivers of both vehicles had then run away. They had done so to avoid mob justice.
After Asiya drops a bombshell on him, Professor Kimani engages in an interior monologue. Kimani's vehicle is again down, and the daughter cannot get a ride as anticipated. This angers Asiya, who hints to Kimani about the reason behind his inability to get a greener pasture as newborn.
The visitor reached for his coffee and took a sip. "More like it!" he said. "Nice and hot," he added. Then he turned to Comrade Melusi. "Your new business, how did it do?"
"l can't say it did well. Inflation was eroding incomes faster than they could grow. But I survived. I didnt five and work in as clean a suburb as I did before. I just could not afford the rent there anymore. No, I had relocated to a slum in a poor part of Harare. But, hey, I was alive" He laughed, falsely. Sorrow was in his eyes. "Then tiere came Murambatsvina."
"Then there came what?" asked the visitor.
"Murambatsvinå. It is Shona, meaning expelling the trash."
Melusi and Longway are having lunch and Melusi is explaining how he had vied for the presidency but lost to the current president.
"Here is what's going on. I came to advocate for Way Omega, and I will.
"In doing that I'll draw on other alternatives, including Path Alpha."
"You will? Then remind me: /AVfiy did I promise to keep your identity to myself?"
"Because I'm hiding from Way Omega my links to Path Alpha. Look. Some heads of state — not all, but some — believe I should be focusing exclusively on Way Omega. If they heard about my links to Path Alpha, they would demand my scalp.
• Ms McKenzie enquires from Abiola if the other people working alongside Mr
Longway are Professor Kimani, Comrade Melusi, Pastor Chiamaka and
Engineer Tahir.
• Abiola asks Ms McKenzie if it is Mr Longway who had told her about the four,
but she informs her that it is Nick.
• She tells Abiola that Nick also told her about The Trick.
Give the meaning of the following words as used in the excerpt.
Tolerate
Scuffle
Pounced
Doomed
Tolerate-put up with
Scuffle-fight, struggle
Pounced-attacked, struck
Doomed-condemned