Fourteen

That night he agreed for the first time to negotiate with them.  He never kept time with them. That was not important. He was in Africa, the land of his birth. He was at liberty to do anything. He was an African and therefore has nothing to do with time. Time was for the whites who believe that time is money. An African can fail an appointment hundred times in a day, apologize, justify it and at worst repeat the mistake again. When he was marched in by the fierce orderly of the best crop of soldiers, he looked at them all and sat close to the entrance of the hall watching the performance of his security details. They were smart and were ready to make defense. The men who had invited him acknowledged his presence briefly. It was no time for formalities, trivialities and courtesies. General Kofi was in no way fair in character, he was a stroopy man and a stuck up mortal who had no shame and conscience. For courtesies, he did not deserve it. Already he was late. He was prideful and lack manner of speech. He had served his sentence for abusing a diplomat exactly on the day that the country was granted independence. Despite the strict nature of the nation's security at that moment, he was found extremely accommodating to visitors at the surface.

At the hall, many were allowed in without interruption. The officers immaculately turned out in crisply starched uniforms and gleaming Kofi, were listening intently to some introduction. Others were pressmen. Apart from a couple of confidential secretaries there was no one else in the room, but over in a corner on a small table stood a tape-recorder; a spool of tape revolved slowly and the voice-level needle flickered with the rise and fall of the general's voice. Outside there was a cordon of heavily armed guards and security men, a couple of light aircraft standing by, a restless helicopter whose clattering rotors occasionally jerked the tape recorder's needle to its maximum limit.

Unusual pleasantries over, the chairman stood up to speak. While this first speaker had been appointed to preside over it all, others were ready with writing materials ready with many questions in their mouth that they would press him with.  It was Africa. They knew what to ask and when to ask.

"We welcome you with open arm in your own country home. We hope that out talk with you will be fruitful with a positive outcome. It's quite painful that the entire country is passing through a very bad time. It is no good news, as we all know. We have made investigations over and again to…"

         "Did the investigation reveal any impropriety" he cuts in after a flash of thought.

         "Far from that. The investigation revealed no impropriety against the government". The speaker replied softly and smiled to lighten the mood.

"Is it on arm control?"  He asked in a brilliant repartee.

"It would be imprudent to accuse the government on its policy on arm control"

"Then what is your basis for this criticism. Listen, I heard that your men had begun making airdrops of food to many in affected region. I should hate to see that carried out the more?'

"My criticism is aimed at every African politician who after many dialogues has failed to get it right".

" You have ruled?" he puts in.

" Now we come to the cruz of the matter, the restlessness in Kandala. The acid test of a good politician is whether he or she remains calm in a situation. I think fundamentally, that it is premature to talk about sending troops in without first seeing you. The decision which should have been met and which we believe could have averted this fight was not carried out. The adequacy of the security arrangement has been in question and yet you pretend all is well. We also fear and think that the advance of the war to other region will get to the capital territory will follow if allowed. The government failure to act on this matter led ultimately to its ruin. We only think we walk toward achieving a better end. The past over and lets see if something good would be achieve through you. So over to you General Kofi."