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“Soldiers are plain and blunt,” he says defiantly “When we turn affairs of state back to you and return to barracks that will be the time to resume your civilian tricks Have a little patience”
At this point he is boldly interrupted by the Commissioner for Justice and Attorney-General and then by everybody else with an assortment of protests Actually it is His Excellency’s well-chosen words that signalled the brave interruption, for despite the vigour in his voice the words theht now to coan to crawl out into the open again In his precise manner the Attorney-General says: “Your Excellency, let us not flaunt the wishes of the people”
“Flout, you mean,” I said
“The people?” asked His Excellency, ignoring my piece of pedantry
“Yes, Your Excellency,” replied the Attorney-General boldly “The people have spoken Their desire is manifest You are condemned to serve them for life” Loud applause and shouts of “Hear! Hear!” Many voices in contest for the floor
“I ahtly raised tone breaking up a hand to hand tussle a the voices, “only a simple soldier But a soldier must keep his word”
“But you, I beg pardon, I mean Your Excellency, cannot break a word you never even said The nonsense about one hundred per cent was only the e saboteur”
“No obligation, Your Excellency, to keep faith with heretics,” boo’s voice
“On point of order, Your Excellency” He glares at me now, and then nods to the Attorney-General, who had been interrupted by Okong and myself, to continue
“Your Excellency, three provinces out of four is a majority anywhere” More applause
“Your Excellency I wish to dissociate myself from the Attorney-General’s reference to a saboteur and to appeal to ainst public servants who are not present to defend theues’ faces when I used the word dissociate and the relaxation that follohen they realized that I was not saying what they feared I was saying Even His Excellency was thrown off his poisethat he has been teased does not aer He swings his head sharply to his right where the Chief Secretary sits on the edge of his chair
“Any other business?” The way he says it this ti of a rebuke: so like How many times do you want me to ask this question?
This unexpected convergence of the crisis on his person threw the Chief Secretary into utter confusion and inelegance of speech
“Oh no sir Nothing at all, sir Your Excellency” And then he looks across the table and our eyesbut I think that the derisive smile on ht about Perhaps he saw inin ambush for him beyond the massive doors of this citadel He is very sensitive about accusations of boot-licking especially when they come from me because I think he has a lot of respect for me And in a way I don’t dislike him, either He is after all, unlike the rest of us, a career civil servant ould have served a civilian president… or indeed the British raj… as well as he now serves His present Excellency But whatever it was that did it he nos totally untypical spirit that for him alain: “But Your Excellency, if I ence—and—erm—put in a word for the Honourable Commissioner”
“Which Honourable Commissioner? There are twelve of thehter at other ti now and we are all too amazed
“Your Excellency I mean the Honourable Co and baffled silence Then His Excellency who, I should adood at such times says:
“He doesn’t need a word from you Remember, he owns all the words in this country—newspapers, radio and television stations…”
The peals of laughter that broke out engulfed everybody for h were laughing and slapping oodwill across