A letter to Mr & Mrs ‘Apor’
Dear Honourables, The ‘darkness’ of this day has given me the opportunity to write to you this letter. Don’t mind about me referring to you both as ‘Honourables’. It is one of the most abused titles in this part of our world. You and I know that pretty well.
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Permit me to bestow on you such a title for no reason. Honourables, I have always maintained that it is easier to predict Ghana’s problems than even the weather.
Oh yes! It is easier to be a national prophet than anything. It is predictable we will battle cholera/floods every rainy season and meningitis every dry season.
It is absolutely predictable you will leak exam questions (apor) during this season, thus, your names Mr and Mrs ‘Apor’.
You may not know me but I am that student who tends to benefit somewhat from your ‘kindness’. Cheers! I must confess you are doing well… pretty well.
Having guts to sell out national and even sub-region exam questions is no mean guts! We all know who you are and how you can be eliminated. No one cares to anyway. We all benefit somehow.
I am very sorry to disturb you this day. You may be resting from your recent feat or sharing your spoils with your accomplices. Congratulations once again.
Thanks to your puppeteers who are able to buy you out so cheaply. I just hope this year’s booty is something to write home about. I really wish I were in your shoes now. I really do!
Forget about my wishes. After all, wishes will never be horses. Tell you what, my main concern for writing this letter is to draw your attention to something you may be oblivious of; something your penchant for quick wealth may have made you turn a blind eye to. Though I am a benefactor of your efforts, I think I should still let you know. Maybe I’m not selfish like you after all. Can eventually adversely affect you?
What is more daunting than burning the midnight candle only for others like me to have access to questions because our parents or friend’s parents could somewhat buy you out?
What is more hurting than cramming theories and formulae of all sorts all through our education only for others such as me to have an unfair advantage?
I, like many others, are growing up with the awful mindset that “hard work pays but cheating pays more.” In every endeavour of our lives, we would have this at the back of our minds.
If I have an option of working hard or cheating, obviously my choice would be to cheat. After all, you taught me so.
I may enter medical school with my ill-gotten grades. I may have an opportunity to work hard but I won’t. Why should I anyway? After all, cheating pays more! I would cheat my way through.
I definitely would graduate as a ‘fine’ medical doctor. Don’t worry. I would invite you to my graduation ceremony. Besides, you had a hand in it.
That is not going to be the last time we may meet. You may be brought to our (there are a lot of my kind) hospital one day. You may be too ill to even identify me or us.
We may give you an ‘over-the-bar’ prescription. As if that is not enough, we may even ‘try’ some concoction of an injection on you.
Of course, we shabbily went through medical school. We cheated our way through and will continue to cheat our way through life.
That concoction of an injection may lead to your paralysis or something worse. It may even cause your death. But thank God you caused your own death!
Even if you aren’t the victim, your spouse or other relatives may be. However, remember that your selfishness created characters such as me. In whatever profession I find myself, I may cheat through and… emerge as a quack. But remember, you and your loved ones will have a taste of my ‘quackness’.
If I choose to be a politician, for instance, someday, I may cheat through elections and when in power ‘hunt and gather’ all your sweat-laden taxes for my selfish gains.
So you see… when you dare leak exams for your selfish purposes, think about yourself first. Think about how your selfishness can in turn be your nemesis.
Think about how you ruin yourself first before ruining others when you sell out the trust we have for a system; an exam. The wealth you may be amassing for yourself may only go wasted because of the characters you may be gradually moulding.
Greetings from my friends. They hope to do more business with you soon. In case you someday decide to leak money (instead of exam questions), kindly reach me wherever I may be. Chai!
Yours un-faithfully,
‘Apor’ patron, Lapaz-Ghana (coded location).
• The writer is a playwright and the Chief Scribe of Scribe Communications, a writing company in Accra. (www.scribecomltd.com)
