Where is Act 1 scene 2 of the Samaritan set?

• Maracas Municipality  headquarters, Mayor’s boardroom
• Second Monday of January, the following year (P20)

What event is taking place?

• An urgent meeting of the municipality leadership convened by the Mayor
• The Mayor says that there is a new trend gaining ground in the municipality and it could adversely affect them as leaders.
• He asks if any of the leaders had read that day’s newspaper. None had. (P21)

Identify the leaders who attended the emergency meeting.

• Mr. Harvester  – the Municipal Chief Executive Officer
• Justice Ian Jaden – the Principal Judge
• Inspector Bembe – Municipal Inspector General of Police
• Hon. Ted – Secretary, Department of Health and Environment
• Hon. Seymour – Secretary, Department of Planning and Development
• Hon. Ramdaye – the Deputy Mayor
• Mossi – the Mayor (P20)

What does the Mayor ask Harvester  to do that he claims was in the best interest of the leaders?

He asks him to buy all newspapers from the vendors as early as possible. (P21)

What do the headlines of the various newspapers say?

• The Caribbean Watch – Municipal Leadership: A Criminal Enterprise
• The Sentinel – Municipal Leaders Stripped Naked
• The Insight – Rot in Maracas Municipal Council Exposed
• The Spotlight – Municipal Leaders Face Imprisonment (P21)

What does Mossi say about the newspaper headlines?

He is worried because the focus is on the leaders and the stories under those headlines are extremely damaging.

For how long have such headlines been published?

Every day for the last one month (P22)

How do the other leaders react when Mossi tells them that he singled them out because their departments are most affected?

• Ted wonders if such headlines are unusual.
• Jaden says he thinks that these are the usual problems leaders must have with the media from time to time. He suggests that they give the reporters more boxes of chocolate.
• Bembe suggest that they should threaten some of them. (P22)

Mossi informs them that the problem is not mainstream media. What exactly is the problem?

The Samaritan App – It is the source of all the information in the newspapers. (P22)

Mossi reveals that he declined to launch the Samaritan App officially in the municipality. What reason does he give for this?

He declined to launch it when he figured out the innovation may be a problem for the leaders. (P23)

Harvester explains to the others how the Samaritan App works. In which forms do people share information?

People can post or share information on the conduct of the municipal affairs in form of text, file, picture or video. (P23)

What does Harvester say the main aim of the Samaritan App is?

The aim of the Samaritan App is to promote the public good by exposing corruption and other vices in the municipality and agitating for the prosecution of the culprits. (P23)

What solution does Seymour offer for controlling the damaging information shared on the Samaritan App?

• He says that they should have a conversation with those posting information in the app.
• He directs Harvester to obtain some cash, identify those active in posting and paying them to stop. (P24)

Why is Seymour’s solution not viable?

The app has almost half a million downloads. That’s about half a million users. Negotiating with such a huge number of people is impossible. (P24)

Bembe posits that the media is simply doing its normal watchdog job but Mossi insists that there is cause for alarm. Why is there cause for alarm?

• The information appears to be meticulously researched
• The assaults by the media seems well-choreographed (P24)

Which serious allegations are levelled against Ted and Seymour?

• Supplying air – their companies bill the municipal council huge sums of money every month without rendering any services.
• Details of the companies have been unearthed
• They appear on the Samaritan then on all the newspapers
• The companies are linked to Seymour and Ted. (P24)

What’s the name of the prison in Maracas?

 Baneta Express Prison (P24)

Supply of air is only one of the allegations. Mention other allegations levelled against the leaders.

• Drug trafficking, grabbing of public land, inflation of the cost of the municipal projects, use of proxies to secure municipal tenders, undertaking shoddy public works, murder, gang warfare
• The information is very detailed on the people and the companies involved (P25)

Identify the personal information on municipal leaders available on the Samaritan App.

• lifestyle of individual municipal leaders
•  where they live
•  the kind of houses they live in
•  their businesses
•  vehicles they own
•  other properties in their possession
•  when the properties were acquired
•  a lot  of other personal details (P26)

Who owns Madingo Golf Club?

Bembe – the Inspector General of Police. (P26)

Why does Bembe have an expression of shock on his face when the he learns that there is a lot of talk about Madingo Golf Club with the people wondering where he got money to put it up?

He has always been discreet about his private affairs. He is shocked that people have information that Madingo Golf Club is his. (P26)

What is the name of the lobby group comprising mostly of lawyers?

 The Samaritans

 What is their mission?

•  It is calling upon people to volunteer as witnesses and help in the prosecution of those involved in the corruption and abuse of office (P26)
• They are also planning to petition the local government, the Prime Minister and the Chief Justice to take action. (P27)

Can such online allegations form a strong basis for prosecution and conviction?

Yes – provided there are valid documents supporting the allegations (P27)

Inspector Bembe wants the leaders to pass a by-law to stop the App. Which law does he want to be enforced?

He suggests that they should ban the Samaritan App within Maracas Municipality. (P27)

Seymour and Mossi support this idea. What are their suggestions?

• Seymour says that they can think creatively about it. He suggests a fabrication scheme where they can claim that the Municipal authorities are concerned that suspect apps (spy apps) are finding their way into the municipality.
•  It may lead to theft of confidential information such as bank account details.
• They should cite issues of cyber bullying and sharing of pornographic materials in schools.
• Mossi suggests that they issue a circular that the App should not be in use in Maracas Municipality unless or until it is approved by either the Prime Minister or the Maracas Municipal Council.
• That computer experts should hack and mess up the Samaritan App. (P27)

What does Harvester say in relation to Mossi’s suggestion about messing up the app?

 He says that hacking is a crime. (P28)

What does Seymour suggest that they do should the issues escalate to the courts?

He says that they will rely on judge Jaden (P29)

Judge Jaden is not willing to involve himself in the scheme. How does he respond to Seymour?

He says that they have to be strategic. (P29)

Mossi tells Jaden that they must work together. Why?

Because they all have some skeletons in their closet.(P29)

Justice Jaden does not deny whether he has some skeletons in the closet. How does he respond when Seymour inquires if he has no skeletons at all?

• He says that he is not a reptile
• What matters is not what you do, but how you do it.
• You can fly into forbidden territory and get away with it, provided you do it below the radar.
• He went to school.(P29)

Seymour suggest that they talk personally to Alvita and  Montano to drop the matter. Why is this not a viable strategy?

• This is not a viable strategy because as leaders they cannot deal with kids.
• It is better to deal with Nicole, the Ethics and Innovation teacher (P30)

Ramdaye claims to have another idea. What is it?

He suggests that they get the information out of the Internet. He wonders where the Internet is and how they can get there.

Seymour claims to have a solution. What is it?

• Money, money, money! And more money! (P31)
• He suggests that they use money to fight any cases brought against them including the witnesses. (P31)

What reasons do Ramdaye, Bembe and Ted give for being unable to raise money towards this cause.

• Ramdaye – He has loans and projects
• Bembe – He has just finished the Madingo Golf Club. He is broke as a church mouse.
• Ted – cannot raise a meaningful amount. (P31)

Harvester suggests a way of averting the court cases in the first place. What is his solution?

Restitution – conducting a truth and reconciliation exercise.(P32)

What is restitution?

The leaders announce a grace period within which everyone within the municipality should come clean, confess their mistakes, give back what they have acquired illegally, forgive one another and open a new chapter of honesty in the conduct of the municipal affairs.(P32)

How do the leaders react to Harvester’s idea?

• Ted says that that has never happened anywhere in the world. He doubts whether restitution is a good idea.
• Seymour wonders whether restitution isn’t admission of guilt. How can he incriminate himself? He wonders what happens if you are accused of crimes other than acquiring wealth irregularly. (P32)

Ramdaye suggests that they can raise money to fight the cases by securing loans or selling some of their property. What does Seymour suggest about raising the funds?

• He suggests that they find a way of getting that money from the Municipal Fund. (P32)
• He adds that they need to do reallocation of budget line items. (P33)

How should they spend the money they set aside according to Ted?

They could use it to take care of investigators, lawyers, prosecutors and judges if things go wrong. (P33)

Seymour suggests that they can justify the reallocation of funds on the need to address a certain problem in their town. What is the problem?

• The waste disposal system in the town is in a terrible state.
• There is garbage all over the place and the drains are broken. It is a serious health hazard.
• Seymour posits that they can use this problem to justify the reallocation of funds, but in reality use some of the funds to fight off the impending cases. (P33)

Why is this suggestion about reallocation of funds illegal? What does the law say?

A municipal council cannot spend any money at any time of a financial year except as provided in the national estimates, and as contained in an Appropriation Act approved by parliament. (P33)

Who will be blamed for the misallocation?

 Mossi (P34)

In the past, Seymour and Ted have forced Mossi into misallocation of funds. What were some of their demands?

• Regular travel with enhanced allowance for members of the municipal council
•  sitting allowance for unnecessary committee meetings
•  Loans and mortgages (P34)

What do Seymour and Mossi disagree over?

• Seymour wants Mossi to submit a supplementary estimate of the expenditure
• Mossi says that he will have him arrested and prosecuted
•  Seymour insists that Mossi should approve the supplementary budget or be ejected from office (P34-35)

What shows that Ted and Seymour stole their wealth?

•  They were elected as poor and jigger-infested hoodlums
• Now they are living like kings in grandiose villas and mansions
• They indulge in delicacies in classy hotels and drive state-of-the-art vehicles (P35)