Here are the answers to Excerpt 3 Questions
1. 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)
2. Poverty
All families depended on the
kiosk for their livelihood. The streets did not have sidewalks. Most Gambians
live in slums. There needs to be more water for the neighbourhoods.
Corruption
Traffic checkpoints sprout
everywhere, creating an enabling ground for guards to extort bribes from
passers-by.
Poor
governance
The author says that the
forty-nine heads of state in Banjul all looked happy because they had escaped
troublemakers from their home countries. This evidences poor leadership in
African countries. There can only be trouble in a country with a leadership crisis.
3. Irony
The narrator says, 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 ahead of them and
stayed free from trouble here, in the Gambia. The irony of this statement is
that the leaders are acting unaware that there are the creators of the problems
they are running away from their own countries. It is ironic that the heads of
state are happy to be in the Gambia, a country battling its problems, which
apparently, are worse than their own.
Through this irony, the
playwright highlights the pretentious nature of the heads of state and the
theme of hypocrisy.
Vivid
description
The writer uses words to paint
clear mental images in the reader's mind. This enables the audience to
understand the text better. The scenery is vividly described as the country
prepares to receive the heads of state. Bulldozers dispatched at night in slam
clearance 'exercises' demolished roadside kiosks on which whole families depend
for their livelihood. This description points out the rare atmosphere of the
bitterness of rural Gambia, characterized by hustles
and bustles.
4. The author shows the
irony in the reason for the heads of state's happiness in visiting Banjul. This
equally portrays the trouble the heads of state have left behind, escaping from
the problems they have solely originated through their poor leadership
practices.
5. To make something or a place the most distinct and stunning — to attract.
To tear down something or destroy it.
To obtain something by force, intimidation or unlawful use of
power.
A gathering or an assembly of
leaders.