Brushing aside IEBC violations not the way to go

Whenever there are two possible explanations for an occurrence, the simpler one is usually better. Another way of saying it is the more assumptions you have to make, the more unlikely that explanation is. This means if there are several possible ways that something might have happened, the way that uses the fewest guesses is probably the right one. This is known as the principle of Occam’s razor. We will get to that in a moment.

Now, what has the burning of schools got to do with the fat packages IEBC bosses will get to do the so-called “honourable thing”? Apparently nothing, except for the fact that both involve groups with ample sense of entitlement. Let me be categorical on one thing. Technically and hence legally, innocent students have been victimised by mysterious fires that have somehow started as a result of spontaneous combustion. Possibly with malevolent occult forces taking a hand. While the studious kids want to get on with their education, these confounded fires have kept interrupting them. Pupils at many schools have been forced to go home much to the relief of worried parents. Naturally, they need counselling after the trauma of witnessing an inferno licking their beloved tin boxed into scrap.

Likewise, the melodrama that is the closing act of the current IEBC has absolutely nothing to do with the commissioners. These are squeaky clean men and women whose integrity cannot be breached. In the abstract, they are technically and hence legally innocent. And they will until kingdom come retain such innocence unless proven guilty in a court of law. It simply cannot be that the fact that some characters jailed in Britain for serving chicken to the IEBC bosses can have any bearing locally.

The United Kingdom’s vote to leave the European Union is clear evidence of the suspect decision making of our former colonial masters. Why should we take their courts seriously?

Back to the razor, for the benefit of the IEBC bigwigs, suppose two empty ballot boxes are somehow found chock-full of ballots in favour of one candidate’s after a brief black out, there are several possible explanations.

The simplest one is that the ballots boxes have been switched in an attempt to rig the vote, but there could be many more. Maybe the boxes were full of ballots before the blackout but everyone had failed to notice, it could even be a miraculous sign showing who is the anointed candidate. Or heck the devil could have done it for kicks.

What prevents us from forming a commission of inquiry to investigate this occurrence that may have very many explanations? Occam’s razor. And yet despite the fact that we know a chicken was served and eaten, we have opted for more intricate explanations.
As for our angelic high school boys and girls, suppose the rate at which three inch six by four mattresses catch fire is suddenly very high, what conclusions could we make? The fact that no student is ever injured in these fires combined with tell-tale petrol fumes should lead to the simple explanation of premeditated arson. But with the present cutthroat competition in our education system, it could be that rival schools are setting each other’s dorms on fire. It could be lightning strikes to blame.

It has become fashionable to set schools ablaze because charity begins at home. How many of our institutions have been set on fire by the very persons who man them? Should we then be surprised that our youth do the same? If canning should be re-introduced to our schools, should we not also prosecute rather than pamper those who reduce important national institutions to smouldering ruins? What is much simpler for us to do, though not necessarily correct, is to rebuild the dorms, and the commissions as well, and let yet another group of torch wielders have a go.