story: guilty
Posted by Social Matters , Monday, November 25, 2013 7:13 AM
‘Guilty.’ The verdict
read. ‘You are hereby sentenced to…’
‘Guilty?’ the defendant
asked. ‘Of what?’
He restrained himself from raising his
voice, not wanting to be held in contempt as it had already happened several
times during the hearing, were they seriously planning to pin on him the sins
of an entire nation…
‘What
am I guilty of?’
he demanded angrily. ‘My only crime is
being born in an impoverished country, where people’s fate was determined by
their social status or the status of the big men in society.’
‘Where
the few big fish in the ‘big’ tribes control every single resource in that
country.’
He seemed to be reeling from the shock of a guilty verdict.
‘Please…’ his defense
attorney tried to restrain him.
‘Let
the man talk.’
The judge allowed him to continue.
‘I
am not responsible for death of millions of African children by Malaria,
neither did I start or by any means spread HIV, still I do not get what I have
to do with the deaths of millions of people from roads accidents.’ He
seemed perplexed. ‘Of maternal deaths,
don’t even get me started…and corruption…’ he paused. ‘Is this a sick joke or something?’
His defense lawyer cleared his throat
anxiously.
The man went on. ‘For heaven’s sakes I did not start the post election violence.’ He
was now pacing up and down as the Judge watched in amazement. ‘Yes, I may have posted a few hate messages
for a rigged election but I killed no one, yes when those ‘people’ were killed,
I felt nothing but I did not kill them my Lord, they had it coming. My only
crime in this case would be voting for the man of my choice…my man.’
‘Your
man.’ The judge asked.
‘Indeed!’ the man
replied. ‘My man…a man of the people!’
he added, his voice full of pride.
‘The
man that you started to complain about a few months after the elections, as a
matter of fact, you could hardly wait for the next general election to vote him
out for his lack of a developmental record, but when the next general elections
came you still voted for him… “your man”.’
‘with
good reasons my Lord.’ The defendant responded.
His defense lawyer covered his face in
disbelief. ‘MY LORD!’ he finally said. ‘I beg this honorable court not to
consider my clients utterances’ as they are irrelevant at this stage of the
proceedings. Evidence has already been adduced, the defense as well as the
prosecution finalized their submissions. We believe the court has reached its judgment,
all that remains is delivery of the judgment, which the defense prays it be
done expeditiously so that we can lodge an appeal. ‘Counsel!’ The judge
started in an all powerful voice. ‘Have I
given out my ruling yet on the case and yet you still want to appeal, on what
grounds!’
‘That
my client was not accorded a fair hearing.’ He seemed to gain his confidence
back. ‘my Lord, my clients right to due
process was gravely violated.
‘Are
you questioning the integrity of this court?’ the Supreme Judge’s eyes were
squarely on the defense attorney.
‘No,
my Lord.’
he defended himself. ‘I am simply questioning
your rationale of condemning my client for the sins of the elite in his
country. Why should a poor servant pay for his master’s corrupt ways?’
‘And
so this ruling class I am assuming…are some sort of monarchy of some sort…how
else did they get this near sovereign Lord Status?’ the judge pondered.
My
Lord ‘I thought we were done here.’ The prosecutor asked. ‘My learned friend is simply wasting the court’s time; he should wait
for the ruling and then appeal that is the due process of the law.’
‘Mr
Prosecutor!’
The Judge said. ‘This is no ordinary
court, yes the defendant is free to appeal once the judgment is pronounced, but
until them I have no objections to listening to his defense.’
‘His
vote was one in a million…maybe we should blame him for global warming as
well.’ The defense lawyer said in frustration.
‘That
is possible.’
The judge said writing something down. ‘I
can add that to the charge sheet and call for a new trial. I do recall his love
for plastics and his poor methods of disposing them.’
The prosecutor smiled slyly at the
disbelieving defense attorney, it seemed like the toughest case of his career.
‘In
line with the guilty verdict.’ The judge read the sentence. ‘In the first charge of mass murder of
women, children and other vulnerable people such as elderly persons and persons
with disabilities using weapons such as hunger, strife and aloofness. This
court finds the accused guilty, the court is satisfied with the evidence
adduced in this court, that on 5th October 1995 the accused did
nothing to help his neighbours wife and children though he knew the accused
had a history of mental problems but
never used the information to help the family, the neighbor ended up murdering
his wife and children. Still in the same village the accused knew of the men
stealing from the villagers, he also knew that his nephew was defiling elderly
women and persons with disabilities, impregnating some of the children with
severe disabilities, you still aided his escape so that he could evade the
arrest.’
The defendant hang his head in shame, he
had done all that because he loved his sister.
‘In
the second charge the court finds you guilty of the deaths of men, women and
children through road carnages. The court is also satisfied with the evidence
adduced that you watched at times with misguided sarcasm as money exchanged
hands between the police and matatu driver, you were also at times the excess
passenger and even when other passengers complained you derided them over their
excess weight. Then a couple of years later you bought your own matatu, which
with the passing of time became unroadworthy , but without insurance, without a
propely trained driver it ended killing several people directly, indirectly it
caused thousands of deaths, at one time your vehicle hit a five year old boy
who was rushed to hospital in critical condition, you may not know this but the
boy died several months later, but the accused paid the police so that his
vehicle could return to the dusty village roads.’
The defense attorney fidgeted, the
evidence at that point was overwhelming. The defendant seemed to be clutching
at a straw.
‘On
the third charge of failure to vote for the right leadership, gross corruption
and sycophancy the court finds you guilty, the evidence proved beyond reasonable
doubt that year after year you voted for your man, who in turn wasted all the
resources that were within his reach, resulting in the constant impoverishment
of my people, in maternal deaths for lack of proper medical facilities for
women. The accused had the power to change all that by voting not on the basis
on his tribe but on values such as integrity, honour and hard work. His man
never delivered but because he was so ingrained on ‘his tribe’ ‘their tribe’
mentality, he drove his country the one that I had endowed with so much
resources into a state of utter and complete failure. The court notes that the
defendant can be described as cold, non-caring and a person who misused all the
power given to him, he admitted to this court that while people from ‘the other
tribe’ were being killed he felt nothing. Children died of malaria a
preventable disease, the aged looked after HIV/Aids orphans all because of the
choices the defendant made.’
‘On
the three counts this court finds the defendant guilty as charged and hereby
sentenced to eternal damnation. The defendant is free to make an appeal within
fourteen days, after which the sentence will be final.’
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