Nigel Nassar
4 July 2009
Kampala — WHAT a painful loss Makerere University registered last Sunday! With 700 points against its opponent Mzuzu University's 720, it was one of the closest calls on the televised inter-university quiz show, the Zain Africa Challenge in which several African universities are battling to win sh130m.
I felt betrayed by Albert Muloiti. In fact, I blame the loss on him. Ironically, Albert was the most brilliant in the first round game that qualified Makerere to the second round. But last Sunday, he was the weakest link. And since a chain is only as strong as its weakest link, Makerere bowed out. It wasn't as bad initially since Malawi's Mzuzu also wasn't at its best. But then Albert started blundering with the easiest of questions, which were passed onto the Mzuzu team that aced them. Albert hit rock bottom when he gave the mother of all wrong answers - that the biggest organ of the human body, which gives off sensations of warmth and cold, is the brain. It was that bad.
I immediately went: "Are you high?" I nearly ripped the TV apart to pull him out of there and knock some sense into him. Don't we all know that that organ is the skin? Honestly, that was no rocket science. I couldn't help, but conclude he had either eaten some 'stupidising' meal, or had slept with some woman who had some 'stupidising' agents in her. Wait a minute, is there such a verb as 'stupidise'? Never mind, after all you know what I am talking about. Blame my lack of a better word on Albert; he has had me infused, too.
When show host John Sibi Okumu passed the question onto Mzuzu, their guy even gave the answer laughing with his face going: "Is it likely a science student could fail this? The blunders earned the opponent 20 marks and a bonus question in which Mzuzu scored another 20. First round ended with Makerere on 20 against Mzuzu's 80.
Even though Makerere's Timothy Mulumba lifted the mark to 110 against Mzuzu's 130, Albert's blunders were still a chink in the armour. There was a 20-point disparity that went all the way till end of third round - 200 against 220.
In a desperate attempt to avert the jinx, Makerere passed all 10 questions in the ultimate challenge, an additional 500 points. But the effort was like that of rats jumping off a sinking ship since Mzuzu also got all of them correct and a total of 720 points against Makerere's 700. That's how Makerere went packing - oh, Albert Muloiti!
Tune into NTV tonight at 7:30pm for a showdown between Kenya's Kenyatta University and Nigeria's University of Technology, Akure.
Be the first to Write a Comment!
Copyright © 2009 New Vision. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). To contact the copyright holder directly for corrections — or for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material, click here.
AllAfrica aggregates and indexes content from over 125 African news organizations, plus more than 200 other sources, who are responsible for their own reporting and views. Articles and commentaries that identify allAfrica.com as the publisher are produced or commissioned by AllAfrica.
