Dec 31 St 'in Charge' - Lance Corporal Halidu Giyuwah

First, a distant, dull explosion, it seems from anotherThe second time in two years, a powerful wind blows
world, and I try to shrug it off.through the African Nation. Amidst widespread
It is midnight and I am half asleep by the time the nextcorruption in the government, the voice of justice has
thundering sound tells me of something unusual. Myspoken. No one can escape the swift spread of
senses sharpen and I lay awake, tense, listening. Byretaliation that follows the next days. All party
the time the rapid exchange from a submachine gunfunctionaries who have not managed to escape, are
echoes through the night, I know that trouble is on itsbeing rounded up and sent to military facilities.
way.Detention, interrogation, sentencing is all done in military
Looking out through the windows does not revealstyle, military courts are set up in hastiness.
anything, and I continue to count the number of heavyThe Army is in control, and, will apply their own justice,
artillery rounds that go down in direction of theand the common people are jubilating.
Flagstaff house. No one has expected this to come,For a few years the party has once again ruled
everyone is surprised.according to their own rules, nepotism, favoritism,
The night continues with the same sounds of heavyhypocrisy and corruption the guiding principle.
gun fire, not close, yet clearly audible. Nobody can findThe night before, I have a visitor, Richard, we call him
sleep by now, and is trying to receive informationRich. He always stops by, for a drink or a meal, and he
through the poor telephone system. Frantic calls areis what one calls a 'facilitator', he helps when one
made from residence to residence, to no avail, nobodyneeds to go through bureaucratic hurdles, or other
knows what is going on.problems. He has contacts everywhere and he earns
The morning brings the first news, house staff cominghis money this way.
from their various locations have heard that a Coup d'He leaves at around 20 hours, no one guesses that he
Etat against the civilian government is imminent. Thewill never come back again. His old VW beetle is
same Flight Lieutenant who has handed over to theleaking from the exhaust, causing excessive noise.
Civilian government before is the Coup plotter, theDriving though a dangerous city, rebel factions and
fighting raging between the various factions is tough.military still shooting at each other, and runs into a
People are cheering the return of the Flight Lieutenant,checkpoint , set up half a mile down the road from
he still is the hero of the people, the defender of truth,where I reside. He never hears the shouts : 'Stop, stop',
the protector of the poor. Soon the radio broadcastshis muffler is louder than the voices. A fatal error, the
the first news and by now the last doubt is laid aside,salves of machine gun fire that erupt from behind take
we are in the middle of a Coup d'Etat. On the secondtheir toll, the car losing direction, running into a ditch. The
day all is over, the last Ministers have been arrestedmilitary follows and pulls out his lifeless body. A
by the Military and the President has been advised tocommon occurrence during such days. Rich is no
turn himself in police custody for his personal safety.longer, he has become a victim of circumstance, killed
The constitution is abandoned, once again, and civilby trigger happy soldiers. For in such times, the
rights are non-existent.venturing out on the roads is almost suicidal.