A Dirty Game

Chapter Nineteen

147 Nineteen hree private journalists were under arrest. Amongst them was Akuro Ngam, a long time friend to late Tanga. They arrested him for having published articles criticising the electoral commission. He was a member of an international human rights organisation, Freedom International. Its main objective was to send pressure appeals to governments to release political detainees who were not guilty of any crime. Ngam’s absence from the streets raised an international outrage. He was a human right activist and a journalist. Appeals were coming in from countries around the world. It all made no difference. For that reason, NI’s journalist Stella Woods set in for investigation. NI was News International. At ten o’clock in the morning, Stella stood at the gate of maximum-security prison at the capital city, accompanied by a camera operator. She rang several times but no officer came out. As they stood there waiting, a police officer was passing just close to them. Stella approached him. ‘Good morning, Sir.’ ‘Morning, can I help you?’ ‘Yes, Sir. I am a journalist.’ ‘Yes, I know. You are Stella from NI.’ ‘Yeah, that’s interesting. Do you watch NI?’ ‘Daily.’ ‘That is so interesting to hear. Is this the maximum security prison of the capital city?’ ‘Yes. What is the problem?’ ‘I want to get in. We have permission and a rendezvous with a journalist detained here.’ As they spoke, a guard came round from the back and spoke with her. At first, the guards refused her from entering. T 148 She presented all necessary documents and they made many calls before she was accepted. For over decades, no journalist ever stepped legs into the maximum-security prison. No human rights group has ever done so too. When a guard told Ngam that NI was to talk to him at a waiting room, he thought they wanted to take him to a final minute. He could think only of death, but that wasn’t the case. There in prison, he was always with a pant and slippers given to him as prison dresses. This time, before he met Stella, he was dressed in a shirt, a trouser and a pair of sandals. They all smelled as dresses kept in a cold place and unclean for several months. The guard puttered along a passageway. Ngam followed hopelessly from behind. Stella had been waiting for about forty-five minutes. A NI camera operator stood near the door ready to cover the event. The guard was making sure not to appear on the camera. At first, Stella didn’t have the courage to talk to Ngam. Sometimes, journalists make some kind of research on the person concerned before interview. Stella must have done it from the first question she asked him. ‘I am Stella, a NI journalist. Are your Ngam Akuro?’ ‘Yes,’ he replied nodding his head repeatedly. ‘I mean the detained journalist.’ ‘Yes, Madame.’ Perhaps, she couldn’t believe he was the person she saw on the internet. He was a man of about eighty kilograms but had lost about half of it. He was weary, skinny and appeared to die soon if the situation persisted. She didn’t ask him if he was feeling good in health. Rather, she asked, ‘Do you receive medication for your ill health?’ ‘Don’t ask that question,’ he responded after several seconds trying to gather some energy. He coughed and 149 added, ‘You don’t have to ask whether a monkey shot by a hungry hunter would be rushed for resuscitation. They have been searching for pretexts to trap people like us and kill through maltreatment. How can one talk of medication?’ ‘If this continues, it is categorically clear that you will die.’ ‘Sure,’ he interrupted, ‘I will die. That doesn’t matter. I think that the spirits of those who die this way only go to reshape the road to justice. Let our administrators and the forces of law and order be informed that either in this world or in the world beyond, they shall account for all they do.’ ‘What were your reactions to Tanga’s death?’ ‘I miss him. He remains a legend in memory. It is not just that I lost a colleague, but that the nation and the entire world lost a great and committed journalist. He was an indispensable force in this field. The reactions of all journalists, I in particular was...