Just in time for the 9pm news.

You get home after a long day from minding your own business – or your boss’ business. You freshen up, get changed, then rush to your living room and switch on your TV just in time for the 9pm news.

There is your favorite news anchor. Very beautiful. And eloquent. Probably studied hard in journalism school. She says that there is a special feature that night. So you wait.

Then enters a politician. Well dressed, with matching suit and tie – looks expensive, probably bought with taxpayers money. He is oozing with self importance – you can almost feel it from your living room. He has a big round belly. And you could swear he has added a few kgs from the last time you saw him.

You can’t help thinking ‘he must be doing well’.

He walks across the room and takes a seat.

What’s the occasion? An exclusive interview to discuss burning matters of national importance. That’s the special feature your favourite news anchor told you about.

The interview begins. The news anchor is well prepared. So is the politician. The questions come. Easy questions. Harder questions. Personal questions. Controversial questions. No stone is left unturned. Shots are fired. The interviewee dodges all the bullets. He is a good politician. You succumb to his charm. Hope for humanity is restored.

But just as the interview is being wound up, something happens. The politician’s mask accidentally falls off. He had it all this time but you didn’t notice. You see his real face for the first time. He is ugly. You see the white lies he tells. The outright contradictions that he thrives upon.

He has becomes elusive. When he is asked about his offshore account where he hides his loot, where public funds meant for development went, he doesn’t answer. He changes the topic.

It occurs to you that you never held him accountable. You were too comfortable.  Or too busy minding your own business. Or was it your boss’s business? But now the economy is failing. So is the business you mind. The result of poor governance.

You have become tense, your heart is beating faster. You try to keep calm. No use causing a medical emergency when doctors are on strike.