The Samaritan Act1 Scene 1- The Failed Award
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The setting is at Sagrada secondary school hall at around 10.00 am. This school is on a hill in Maracas municipality. The teachers and students are seated and Mr. Carmona, the school deputy principal walks in and goes straight to the podium.
There is a silence. He greets everyone and the students respond in chorus.
He informs them that the Samaritan, the winning innovation in the year’s secondary schools’ national innovation competition, will be officially launched in the municipality. The event will be presided over by his worship Hon. Mossi, The Mayor. The Mayor, few distinguished municipal leaders and members of the local school board have arrived in school and will shortly come into the hall. The students were to remain standing and quiet until the guests are lead into the hall by the principal. Once the guests are seated, Mr. Carmona tells the students to sit.
Shortly, The Mayor walks in alongside the principal of the school, Ms. Narine, they are followed by the deputy Mayor, Hon. Ramdaye: the municipality political opposition leader, Hon. Basdeo: the chief executive officer, Maracas municipality, Mr. Harvester and then the members of the local school board. Two journalists shortly enter the hall fully armed with their paraphernalia.
The deputy principal asks the students to take their seats. He then invites the school principal to welcome the guests and lead them through the rest of the Programme. The principal welcomes the guests to the ceremony in which they officially are to launch the Samaritan and present a prize to Alvita and Montano, students at Sagrada secondary school who created the winning innovation.
The principal invites Nicole, the ethics and innovation teacher to introduce the innovation. Alvita and Montano take us in the future, fifty years to come. They make us understand what is happening now and they exaggerate what will happen in fifty years to come. We are exposed to climate change, use of technology and they further tell us about their innovation of The Samaritan.
The Mayor rises to his feet, wears his hat, picks his walking stick and walks center stage. He says that they will neither launch the innovation nor present the prize on this day, because they need time to reflect on the implications. He sends away the teachers and students so that they can discuss with the principal and teacher Nicole the way forward of the innovation. He then tells them that they will not precede the Samaritan as it may turn out to be a platform for misinformation, lies and witch-hunt.
The Mayor tells the principal that she has it within her powers to find a way around it. He tells teacher Nicole to figure out a way… like writing to the ministry of education indicating that there are some fundamental errors in it that need to be solved. He attempts to corrupt them so that they can do away with The Samaritan.
He raises his voice at the teacher and reminds her through blackmail that his decision supersedes those of any education official anywhere in the country (P. 17).
Pirro tries to tell him that they cannot overrule the ministry, but the Mayor proudly says that he does not argue with a simple chairman of a local school board. Nicole tries to make him understand that the app has been online for a month hence it has been taken over by the national information and communications technology cooperation but Mayor Mossi raises his voice at her even louder and tells her to go and write the letter and copy my office through your school principal. He wants to find a copy of the letter in his office in one hours’ time.