Trusted since 2008
LoginRegister
Study resources on Kenyaplex

Get ready-made curriculum aligned revision materials

Exam papers, notes, holiday assignments and topical questions – all aligned to the Kenyan curriculum.

Browse exam papers
Or go directly to:
Class notes Holiday assignments Topical questions Other resources

"Absolute power corrupts absolutely."Basing your answer from the play, Betrayal in the City,show the validity of this statement.

"Absolute power corrupts absolutely."Basing your answer from the play, Betrayal in the City,show the validity of this statement.

Answers

Martin
Boss uses power to award cronies like his cousin Mulili. Mulili is his ear and eye.When Adika dies during the university students demonstration and Jusper is asked to guard his grave,Doga and Nina wish to carry out the shaving ceremony. Jere and Mulili are sent to stop this ceremony from taking place for the sake of peace. Mulili adamantly denies the couple the chance to carry out this ceremony.This is because he has been promised land and grade cattle. Not even the pleas from the old couple can make him change his mind to allow the shaving ceremony to take place.

Power also corrupts when it is misused.During the Entertainment Committee meeting,Kabito and Mulili disagrees. Mulili suggests that the primary school children should line up to wait for the visiting head os state to entertain him. Kabito opposes this vehemently and this leads to a heated exchange of words,Kabito asks Mulili whether he has ever stopped into a secondary school .Mulili says that Kabito has called him a primary school kid.During the one hour break,Mulili goes to Boss and influences him,he says that Kabito says that Boss hides millions in foreign accounts and that he wanted to rape Regina.This influences Boss,later on Kabito dies through through road accident obviously planned by Boss.

Boss also uses his power to award Mulili a tender of supplying milk at the university.During the entertainment committee meeting,Mulili says he will investigate who robbed him off his tender.We learnt that when the tender is taken from him by Kabito,Mulili goes to complain to Boss.Surprisingly,it takes Boss just a call.He calls the university Catering Department and the tender is awarded to Mulili.

Tumbo is the chairman of the entertainment Committee.A play needs to be scripted to entertain the visiting head of state.When he goes to see Regina at her house he finds Jusper and he learns from Regina that he is a good playwright. Jusper gets the job immediately without carrying out a short listing activity to get the best playwright. Jusper is given the task to write out the play.The money allocated is to be divided among Regina,Tumbo and Jusper.

From the above illustrations it is clear that absolute power corrupts absolutely.

OR

INTRODUCTION
The statement absolute power corrupts absolutely is true since some of the characters in Betrayal in the City use power corruptly. The following illustrations show this.
(Accept any other plausible introduction)
(Award two marks)
? Boss uses his power to award cronies like his cousin Mulili. Mulili is his ear and eye. When Adika dies during the University students demonstration and Jusper is asked to guard his grave, Doga and Nina wish to carry out the shaving ceremony. Jere and Mulili are sent to stop this ceremony from taking place for the sake of peace. Mulili adamantly denies the couple the chance to carry out this ceremony. This is because he has been promised land and grade cattle. Not even the pleas from the old couple can make him change his mind to allow the shaving ceremony to take place.
? Power also corrupts when it is misused. During the Entertainment Committee meeting, Kabito and Mulili disagrees. Mulili suggest that the primary school children should line up to wait for the visiting Head of State to entertain him. Kabito opposes this vehemently and this leads to a heated exchange of words, Kabito asks Mulili whether he has ever stepped into a secondary school. Mulili says that Kabito has called him a Primary kid. During the one hour break, Mulili goes to Boss and influences him, he says that Kabito says that Boss hides millions in foreign accounts and that he wanted to rape Regina. This influences Boss, later on Kabito dies through road accident obviously planned by Boss.
? Boss also uses his power to award Mulili a tender for supplying milk at the university. During the entertainment committee meeting, Mulili says he will investigate who had robbed him off his tender. We learn that when the tender is taken from him by Kabito, Mulili goes to complain to Boss. Surprisingly, it takes Boss just a call, he calls the University Catering Department and the tender is awarded to Mulili.
? Tumbo is the chairman of the entertainment committee. A play needs to be scripted to entertain the visiting head of state. When he goes to see Regina at her house he finds Jusper and he learns from Regina that he is a good playwright. Jusper gets the job immediately without carrying out a short listing activity to get the best playwright. Jusper is given the task to write out the play. The money allocated is to be divided among Regina, Tumbo and Jusper.
? The state also uses its power to punish the innocent citizens. When Mosese speaks his mind during Adika’s funeral, he is opposed to the fact that the funeral ceremony should not take more than ten mintues, the students should not carry the coffin, weeping in public was illegal. The state organizes by having Nicodemo to plant a kilogram of Opium in Mosese’s car and Mosese is arrested for this.
? The state also uses its power to order that the visiting Head of State should be entertained by the prisoners. Nicodemo is not comfortable since he is the one who planted Opium in Mosese’s car, leading to Mosese’s arrest.
Out of this negligence the play that the prisoners have to act, gives Mosese, Jere and Jusper an opportunity
to use real guns since the props are missing. This leads to the death of Mulili who is shot by Jusper.
? The entertainment committee which has been given the power to oversee the entertainment plans for the visiting
Head of State. When they meet it seems their first item on the agenda is the ‘size of the potato’ Nicodemo asks,
“What is the size of the potato?” They even suggest that they should be paid hourly instead of daily. During the
one hour break, after they receive the news of the death of Kabito, hey wonder whether they will be paid for that
day.
Conclusion
From the above illustrations, it is clear that absolute power corrupts absolutely.
marto answered the question on December 1, 2017 at 08:13

Answer Attachments

Next:  What are the characteristics of large scale retailers business?

Previous: Describe similarities between the education systems in Kenya and Britain.

View more English Literature Questions and Answers  |  Return to Questions Index

Exams With Marking Schemes

Related Questions