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For it’s not very often, the puppet ruler not renowned for oratory skills, is afforded free rein, to flex his political muscles at an audience receptive and subservient. However, this was recently the case, as the puppet usually limited by a restrictive tether, was made free from his all too domineering puppeteer. And with him afforded this prerogative latitude, meant it wasn’t altogether surprising that he would be enthused, up at the crack of dawn, to express supposed displeasure at the many stalled infrastructure projects. But his undignified utterances and mannerisms, in no place other than the hallowed State House, stood testament to the real reason he should be forever kept on a tight leash.
Nonetheless, being severely intellectually limited, meant the puppet ruler was easily persuaded on this ill-advised meeting, to resolve the pervasive troubles facing infrastructure projects. For the fact is, over the past 4yrs of this installed government, the masses have been registering persistent complaints, on the substandard works being delivered by errant contractors. However, with the contractors being counted friends, families, and favourites, meant a blind-eye was being turned to their many shabby works. But now recognising the masses disgust with the status quo, the puppet ruler was let off his tight leash, to deliver rabid barks, effectively a façade, at an audience of political cronies.
Having said that, this meeting was essentially summoned to shine light on those infrastructure contractors, who were registering four months and more behind schedule. However, having stipulated four months as the punitive redline, the masses were overwhelmingly astounded, that it was only the minion contractors being barked at, even as the culpable kingpins escaped such undignified reprimand. Thus, confronted with such naked deference, the masses were forced to conclude, the pantomime for a meeting was never meant to find solutions to PPP multitudinous infrastructure inadequacies. Rather, it was a naked political pantomime, where the actors, known and corrupt, were provided the opportunity to evade Presidential and Ministerial responsibility.
And for this very reason, the pantomime for a meeting has to be seen for what it also is, a desperate charade to create the impression, action is being taken about these pervasive substandard infrastructure works. For anyone with more than two intracranial braincells, would recognise that such systemic problems of apparent contractors’ ineptitude, can’t be resolved in an early morning meeting with farcical hundreds. In fact, addressing such chronic institutional failings, would demand that all parties involved, including installed ministers and permanent secretaries, are individually rather than collectively, held to account with the view to better understand where the failings are.
That said, the puppet ruler’s intervention was never meant to find solutions, rather it was designed to be a strong-arm political show, a desperate attempt at camouflaging their gross incompetence. The fact is, if PPP were serious about our taxpayers’ billions, they would’ve ensured strict oversight, providing checks and balances, for both infrastructure contract awarding and the ensuing projects undertaken. However, it would appear, from evidence available, that such checks and balances are either nonexistent, or not being enforced. And with such checks and balances nonexistent, created the perfect environment, where the puppet ruler usually securely tethered, had to be unleashed, to once again demean the High Office he holds.
In fact, from all indications, the systems designed to provide the all-important checks and balances, are certainly not working for many reasons. Where paramount to these reasons, is the injection of corrupted party politics into the processes of bidding, evaluating at the level of the NPTAB, and ultimately the awarding of contracts. And it’s out of this corrupted process, contracts are awarded to political cronies, who are given free rein, without the necessary due diligence and oversight. Thus, it’s for these very reasons, the puppet ruler could bark as loud as he wishes, but we the masses would never take the charade seriously, since we are cognisant that they’re nothing but a perverted political pantomime, a desperate attempt to avoid accountability.