By Markson Omagor
(AUTHOR)
The following day was a Sunday. That morning, the Ward Katikirro ordered for the elaborate mopping of the Ward. This meant that all properties were to be carried out and the Ward left completely bare so thorough scrubbing could be done.
Since I had no property to carry out, I simply watched the situation unfold expecting to be told to participate in the cleaning. It however occurred to me that there was a specific group to do the mopping.
To make myself busy (an acute necessity to beat off stress), I moved out and walked to the outside Water Tap with my five liter jerrycan. I intended to use that water for my personal use. However, on attempting to open the tap, I realized there was no water- it had not been turned on, I was too early.
On my way back to my Ward in Block C, I met some guy from Kapchorwa whom I had met before in the free world. This man (I will not reveal his identity coz am not permitted to), I was later to learn that he had been sentenced to 5 years imprisonment by the same Anti-Corruption Court on charges of Abuse of Office and Causing Financial Loss to government. By that time, he had already served one year.
HIS STORY
“You see we were actually three on the same charge, but am the only one serving 5 years, the other two are serving 4 years,” he started. It may surprise you readers that prisoners yap a lot, yes they do. It is one way of killing stress. This particular statement got me asking questions, which is not in my nature anyway.
“How does that happen?” I asked.
He explained that after their arrest, one Member of Parliament from their area who was also a close friend sat in one of the committees where the IGG reported to. In their interactions, the MP approached one of the investigators with the aim of procuring help for him.
When an appointment was fixed, the MP called him to Kampala to have a meeting with the investigator. The following day, they met in a restaurant opposite the IPS Building on Parliamentary Avenue. While they waited for the IGG Investigator to turn up, they sipped on soda. But as soon as the Investigator entered the Restaurant, he noticed everything was going the wrong way. Alongside the investigator, was a plain clothed police officer who incidentally was the same who arrested him in Kapchorwa.
Then Hell Broke Loose
“Who is this one you are with?” The plain clothed police officer asked the Investigator.
“Is this not the man I arrested from Kapchorwa? What are you doing with him?” The furious police officer asked again, not giving the investigator time to respond.
At this point, the officers made an attempt to arrest the three of them. The MP, another of his friend and himself. The MP was however left to go as the two of them were forced to walk to the Inspectorate offices. While they were there, the same MP followed them in an attempt to arrest the situation.
An officer handling their file advised them (the three) to slope to an office a floor below where they would be helped. However, immediately they stepped into the office, they found a charge sheet already prepared for them. That day, they were transferred to the Anti-Corruption Court in Kololo from where they were remanded to Luzira.
“So my friend, when we were being sentenced much later and were originally given 4 years each, prosecution reminded the Judge that I was the one who attempted to bribe an officer from the Inspectorate,” he told me.
“So this is the man?” The Judge asked in astonishment and the Prosecutor answered in the affirmative.
“In that case, the convict is added one year because he does not learn.” So this is how he came to serve a year more than his colleagues with whom he shared the same file.
We laughed it off after all where we were, even the saddest of stories such as this one was a case of amusement. I left for breakfast and found brown and burnt porridge. It was my first meal of the day.
After my breakfast, I once again picked my 5 litre jerrycan and went out to fetch water. At the open tap, I found about 10 adult males stark naked and all struggling to bathe under one unmasked shower. I stood confused and bewildered unable to find a way of fetching water with 10 naked struggling bodies under the same tap from which I should have drawn the water. I couldn’t also imagine that adult males could so easily mingle amongst themselves stark naked!
Transfixed by the situation, I saw other men walk into the naked group, raise their jerrycans above the heads of the bathing men, fetch water and then walk away.
“Soooo it is all about survival of the fittest?” In there I went, lifted my jerrycan above their heads and fetched my water. Satisfied that I had pulled one off, I walked back towards my Ward.
