MY PRISON STORY SERIES: The Day ‘Court Ya Wazee’ Failed to Deliver Justice & Was Resisted
“Medicine for a wise man is picked by a stupid man” – a Popular Prison saying
By Markson Omagor
(Writer)
Sunday morning was cool, a cool re-assuring breeze welcomed us to this very important day, a day we celebrated a passing of yet another week- a milestone. Okongo Zubaberi had however disorganized my precious sleep and I had earmarked the morning for a cool sleep since the notorious labour was absent.
I cleared my bowels at about 5:30am and was in the first half of my extra time sleep when we were rudely woken up for the morning Fall in! Disappointed I sat up and one of the corridor occupants sat facing me as we got counted. I immediately dropped back to sleep only to be reminded that I must fold up my mattress for the ward weekly clean up. This included a thorough sweep, scrub and detergent mop up of the entire ward. I grudgingly complied knowing too well that my earlier intentions had to be ditched.
The Ariel powder soap I donated to the ward earlier in the week was used to spice up the available detergent. We filed out leaving the Kitintale wing of the ward to do the cleaning. When the call for the mid-morning lock up was made, we retreated back to our respective wards. Ward C8 other than having the aromatic Ariel smell had another development. Shoes were to be removed at the door way. This surely needed some learning.
Lunch, a mixtures of greens, Mukene and a pretense of ground nut paste together with the ever very brown posho came and passed.
As time was tending towards evening, there was only one thing in the minds of the majority-the evening Karaoke, the best way a passing of yet another week could be celebrated.
The presenters practiced, we the evidence waited eagerly. Indeed the evening came to pass and as the presenters warmed up, the ward leadership had an issue of great and urgent importance. The ward was called to order.
It turned out that my non-fish eating Muhiima neighbor had had a bust-up with our cleaner. A young man responsible for picking the ward ration from the kitchen and subsequently serving it to inmates. He also fetched water used for the toilet at night and also washed the “UU” plates.
The story was that my non-fish eating neighbor was late to pick his food because he was sleeping however when he went for food, much later though, he stood with his two plates facing the ‘Cleaner’ and saying no word. This apparently infuriated the tired cleaner who wondered what this guy was after. A bust up ensured involving an exchange of painful statements.
As usual the cleaner ran to the leadership, so the two were arranged before “court ya wazee”. This court involved 45 assessors, limitless number of counsels for either party, a lack of direction by the court’s clerk, a divided house and worst of all a biased judiciary “read Ward leaders”.
This one issue dragged on till at about 7:15pm. Time for Karaoke had been eaten into and painfully for the 2nd week running, a Sunday had not been celebrated. To make matters worse, when Katikiro, the supreme judge read his ruling all was just very bad. He directed that my non-fish eating neighbor be expelled from the Ward and that he be immediately removed from the bedroom and thrown into the corridor. This judgment was only applauded by the High Command, his ilk, the rest of the ward went silent, murmuring to themselves as to who would be forced out of the ward because the cleaner has complained.
The threat or attempt to de-bedroom my neighbor was aggressively resisted by the evictee who at the same promised that he will only leave the award after reporting to the Chief Convict. The ward leaders seeing no latent support for their actions cowed down and the non-fish eating Muhiima neighbor retained his position. So we slept, a double tragic evening, ending a day that should have been celebrated. No wonder therefore, that late at night I dreamt about my son Jacob, moving out of the village house to urinate.
