STAND STILL FOR YOUR RIGHTS

 

 The day when I was arrested without a warrant and tormented by the gun. 

I was embarrassed in front of the students whom I used to teach
The high jerking and the police harass caused me psychological torture and embarrassment. 

By Reginald Anderson.
BA Languages.

When my parents separated away in 1989, I was a little kid with just five years. I could speak out some senseless words just like any other kid of that age. The reason why my past mum intended to leave away and left us stranded was none other than a fairy tale. Our past dad had many premises including the one where by the whole family stayed. He had also some unfinished erections in among these premises.

Perhaps our mum left the home, she could manage to visit us at school and home once in a blue moon. I was wondering why she chose to abandon us and I could ask this every time when she came to visit us. To make the matters worse she could even laugh with dad and exchange ideas up to the evening hours. When I asked her she had no other reason than saying her rival our step mother caused so. On the contrary our dad told us that he didn't chase her but she chose herself to do so.

In 2003 life became hard for her, she came back and decided to enter one of our father's sites where there was uncompleted house. The old dad that time said let her be there. Me and my four relatives we were forced to leave the big house where we were staying with our dad and the step mother. Our step brothers and sisters refused to stay with us there any longer. They claimed that our unfortunate mum could send us to steal their property. For the step mother she regarded us as betrayers and set herself in a furious way.

Because our mother had no job the old father was afraid of our lives and also his property. He said we were going to die hunger. He said the unemployed mother could sell the land in order to buy food stuff. These were the days of famine, darkness, bitter and sour to us. I had completed form four already but no one could support my tuition to continue with form five. I considered life as something meaningless to me. The old dad was suffering from chronic disease diabetes. He ran mad and started to walk everywhere around the street with a bush knife in his hand. Meanwhile our mother was tired of the postponements from the working areas were she had applied.
She made her mind to stay back home just plowing the land to cultivate food crops particularly maize and beans.

When life became hard she began to cut down timber trees and sell them cheaply to earn money for living. For a short period the timber forest was isolated by trees and became desert. She just thought of going to the court to claim for the property division when our dad passed in 2005 but she had no any marriage certificate. She ended up wasting the whole money just to pay the Jurors. Nothing was present by that time to make her gain money out of it.

In 2007 I got a financial support from my family to complete my advanced level education. Because I stayed home for more than three years I chose to change the environment of study to make my studies conducive. I came to Uganda where I got a high school called standard High school zzana and joined with it. Although life in high school was not easy. I meant to study and kept myself focused on the books. One time when I was at home for a short recess two people with a motor bike came. They were dark complexion and taller about two inches than me, spoke with German clenched teeth. It was nine in the morning, they knocked up the back door silently. I opened the door and let them inside the sitting room. They were asking for my mother. The uninformed men could bother to speak out without holding back anything that they were brokers who told to look for the buyer of our land. I was shocked and went to a total panic but before saying anything they suggested that they want to leave but they would back again to meet my mother. I couldn't eat anything that very sour day in my life.

In the process of rescuing the land from been sold by our mother I waited till evening to see whether my elder sister knew the deal. When she came I asked her if she knew that our land was on sale. She said that she didn't know anything and promised to ask our mother. For her she is short tempered, when she asked the mother in a rude way they started quarreling. If I was not there they could fall upon each other. It was not a solution to stop her from selling the land as she uttered openly that the land would be sold in a must. Next day early in the morning I went to the big house to meet my step mother for her advice as her son was given authority to take control of wealth after the death of our father. When our step elder brother came he took the claim to the village assembly where they wrote a letter to stop our mother to sell the land. Our brother went to talk to our mother but our mother pursued him and warned him not to associate with anything belongs to her. My vacation was finished and I was supposed to leave back to school for the third semester of form six.

 I remember it was December when my sister who resides in abroad phoned me and informed me that the land was already sold to a Kenyan. She told me that my mother and elder brother sold one acre to a successful Jaluho man. I lost appetite for food, I didn't even want to see my mother and another elder brother who participated with her to sell the land. After completing form six I was invited by my friend who stayed in Nairobi to visit their home. I stayed there for almost a week and tried to get rid of the bitterness and sour time.

I arrived in Arusha Tanzania late at night. I was welcomed by the whole family at my surprise. I was wondering to see my brother driving a new Toyota Hiace which he used for carrying passengers. He came to embrace me with it at the bus station. The family members were happy compared to the past time. They thought that I didn't know that the land was sold. The next day I went to see my step mother who told me that she failed to stop them from selling the land because the buyer bribed some village bests.
We decided to divide the land for five of us. Every one got his small potion for building but the other elder brother who participated in the sell of the land got some piece of the land because he used to say that he is the one who sold his land as the first born son. On the side of our mother she said that the land was divided unequal therefore it should be divided equally to each member. She insisted that the land was sold for the benefit of the all members. Honestly, I entered into a deep conflict with her. I refused even to eat food prepared by her. One day she came with a bundle of brand new two hundred thousand Tanzania shilling and told me to take it as a spending money. I refused to take it because the piece of land which I got was enough for me and on top of all I was on the first line to stop her from selling.

The land buyer started to brag all over that he would expand his area as the land which was sold to him was not one acre as the agreement said. He paced in my land and started to dig sewage of about four meters. I asked him the first time and he told me that it’s okay but we had to enter another agreement because he was right to do so. The second time to ask him he frightened me by his words that he could dump me into the rotten place where I could not see anyone. One week later he fenced the whole part of mine claiming that it was his part. I reported to the village office where they gave me a letter to give him. The letter accused him of intimidate in my land and fence it. When he read it he planed the way of seizing me. He sent his people to hide some of his property in my sister's farm.

It was Sunday morning when I was back from the service. My step brother who owns some business at the center of our street which is called Moshono told me that “the Kenyan is coming to your place go and try to pass through your farm”. I told him that I have seen him with two armed police men while standing at the balcony of the house. He said “don't afraid of him you go through your land”. When I reached the land belonging to my sister I met that Kenyan, his wife, two police men, ten cells leader and my two neighbors. The police men said to me “you…come here, are you normal meaning do I have brain problems? I said “yes I’m normal.” they asked “who did this?” pointing at some spoilt bougainvillea trees used to fence the Kenyan land. They said “so we have been looking for you as the person who did this imprudent rubbish now you are going to answer this at the police station”. I tried to tell them if that was the case I could pay the damages back. They refused and insist that I would pay it at the police station.

So they harassed me the way they felt. I felt much embarrassed as I was high-jerked just in front of my neighbors and some students that I used to teach from the neighboring secondary school. My elder brother whom we used to stop the land from been sold with found them harassing me. He told them “if u think that is the way to gain his property Iam going to stand still to make sure you won't do what you want to do”. The police men abused him fiercely and put him under arrest by pointing a glob nine mm machine gun at him. One of them jumped into the white shaded land rover and slimmed onto the brakes which turned it to the scratching halt. So they took us to the police station. The handcuffed us and opened a file statement showing that we misused our tongs by scaring to kill the land buyer and destroyed his property.

We stayed at the police station for one day and been released after agreeing that the land question should be taken back to the village assembly where the file had opened. The buyer was accused by the village council for intimidating my land and destruction of the village peace because he was not known by the village as the legal buyer. It's because the buying agreement document didn't pass through the village office procedures. It was considered as illegal titled land; the verdict stated clearly to the buyer that he had to remove the barbed wire fence in two days, to pay back the damages, and to prepare another legal land tittle agreement.

One year later the new car which was bought by my mother after selling a piece of land brought problems and stress to her. She was so much stupefied to the extent of cursing it and a driver who was our elder brother. Because it was meant to be an income generator the driver was told to bring home thirty thousand daily. The drunkard brother failed to meet the owner's demands. They ended up by exchanging quarrels day after day.

I remember one day morning my mother came on my door and asked to have a short discussion with i. she sadly explained the drivers problems and said that there was a need to look for another driver. Perhaps I had sworn that I would never advice, touch or share anything came from that car that time blood was thicker than water. I went to my work place and tried to share the problem with my colleagues. One of them told me that there was a neighbor who worked with a certain company for long but the company went bankrupt thus he was in street looking for jobs. I trusted her as she explained everything good about the neighbor.
The following day she came with him at the work place. I took him home to meet my mother. When we were going the man showed me his valid driving license and emphasized that he had an experience of ten years. Moreover he was a religious person with a family of two children. We reached home and I left back to the office for work. My mother accepted him and told him to come back the following day when everything would be ready.

Meanwhile, she went to the stage where the car used to park so as to inform my brother that he had to leave the keys. When our brother was informed he totally panicked and started to sweat. He said that he had nothing to do therefore he could not leave the keys. He insisted that the car belonged to him since he was considered to be the person who sold his land during the land ration. My mother went to our uncle and explained the situation. Because he knew our elder brother well he advised him to look for a policeman and go with him to the stage. She went to the station and got a policeman. When she reached at the stage our brother disappeared for a while but other drivers helped the policeman to get him. He was taken to the police station where his statement was written. When he was told to release the keys he refused and said that he would never produce them unless he was killed. When the police officer wanted to beat him he apologized to our mother and said that he would be trustworthy. Because the pain of a son knows his mother she forgave him.

Days passed and the bad things were buried. The drunkard brother tried to please our mother by giving twenty thousand instead of thirty thousand. He brought many excuses that traffic police officers were disturbing by demanding bribes. It passed a short period of two weeks, the brother couldn't be seen. When our mother went to look for him at his home his wife lied that he waked up early in the morning. When our mother tried to ask the fellow drivers they said that the car wasn't not seen on the way for long. She burst in to tears and thought that her car was sold without her awareness. Eventually she was told by an honest driver where the car was. After reaching there she found the car had broken down and it was on the blocks. When she tried to inspect she found that some parts of it like the cylinder head, mirrors, injector pump, battery, tires and a CD player were missing. Because she was depending on the car she had no money to repair it back it got rust and changed the color. The near by rats celebrated for their new free home.