By Markson Omagor
(Writer)
Monday 11th of March was a day to remember.
An Acting Town Clerk of Kapchorwa Town Council at the time of his arrest left us after serving his sentence. That morning, before his departure, I wanted to see him, to say good bye to him, to get a reassurance that my time to leave prison will also come but then I did not see him.
Cxxxxt left as early as 6:00am while we were still locked indoors. He had been cleared by the office on Saturday, Monday was therefore a day for him just to walk out of the prison gates armed with his letter of clearance.
He had also calculated that by leaving very early, he would go along with him all the luck of the prison inmates. (There was a common belief that if you were the first to walkout of the Ward, never to come back, that you would have left with all the luck of the prisoners in that Ward).
This guy is almost my age mate, we were arrested in the same month of the same year 2010 and our charges were similar: abuse of office and causing financial loss to government.
The dissimilarity being that he was quickly arraigned in court and sentenced. He was also convicted to two years imprisonment and served his sentence early and therefore left early.
In a way, Cxxxxt was a Twin Convict of mine; similar in many ways yet unable to have been born at exactly the same time. His departure left me tormented, disoriented and stressed.
That Monday morning, I tried to boil drinking water, it stayed on fire for a time thrice the usual time and yet it did not boil. Tired, I poured it in the jerry can and passed it as having boiled. I then put water on fire for posho. It boiled and I started mingling, the charcoal I was using was burning wood leftovers.
When I was halfway, the leftovers dropped to the floor and the fire left was unable to make posho steam well. I removed it half steamed and half baked.
Tired of using charcoal, I attempted a coil. Power was dim, the milk tea stayed for a very long time without boiling. I put it in a flask half boiled. What a day it was! The day my friend left us after serving his 16 months! While I was suffering back in M/Bay, with fire literally not cooking my food, I was later to learn that the man was busy being entertained in Jokers Hotel, Kireka where him, friends and relatives partied throughout the night.
Then 25th March 2012
It was a cool Sunday morning, this 25th day of March 2012. We woke up for the early morning ‘Fall in’ as usual. The previous Sunday we had had a general ward mop up, so this Sunday, the mopping was along the corridor arears only.
Immediately the door was opened I walked out armed with my low chair “stool” to eat money or chop money (enjoying the cool smooth breeze from Lake Victoria), Our beddings having been folded along the walls.
Then feeling bored, seated under an old mango tree all to myself, I saw them. They were two of them, Moses and this son of Alur I did not know his name. I had been seeing him around, we had exchanged friendly greetings before but did not come to know each other well.
I walked up to them. They were discussing an inmate who had supposedly been laughing to himself in the kitchen. The man was later found out to having been laughing because one of his brothers, the one who scorned and derided and laughed at him because he had been arrested and imprisoned was brought to M/BAY just the previous day ago.
We then agreed that it is foolhardy to celebrate because another has died as if there’s one who will die in your stead.
I then narrated to them that just a month ago, my Fiancée having come to visit me did not hide her joy that a one Hirya was on the wrong. You see, this Hirya was a driver in the hospital I served as a personnel officer. His case of indiscipline was forwarded to my office for further disciplinary action being the secretary to the disciplinary committee. The case was for hearing shortly before I was arrested so upon my arrest, Hirya and others celebrated, buying beers and chicken.
He had in his naivety taken the case personal. Now according to Sarah (my fiancée), this Hirya used the hospital Ambulance for transporting smuggled cigarettes and Kaveeras. The Revenue Authority Anti-smuggling squad suspecting the Ambulance gave him a chase. Realizing that he was losing, he stopped the vehicle and hopped out and abandoned it with all the smuggled items inside. He had then disappeared and the vehicle was towed to Mbale C.P.S so you see!
The son of Alur said;
“If it was me, I wouldn’t leave the vehicle behind.”
Then Moses asked “what would you have done?”
“I would.. would have driven on.” He was a stammerer.
Then I said, “Are you aware that as you are being chased, the chasers are communicating with security ahead?”
Then he stammered again, “The ….then then……I ……. I ……, would have stopped and let them arrest me.”
We then wondered how this would have helped him in anyway. Then he seemed to remember and he told it.
Next Series: Ingenious Alur Beats Security, Transports Stolen Apple Laptops From Entebbe Airport to Arua in Two Smelly Coffins
