July 2006

The repercussions of the robbery have an effect that gets Alex to reconsider his plans . . .

Saturday, 08 July 2006

It is hard to explain the feelings I have today after all the events and developments of the last week or so. I spent a couple of days in Lusaka spending the last of my money and arranging tickets for the UK where I will be heading on 25^th June.

The two robbers were picked up by the police following a tip off from [a local villager] and they led to the man who had supplied them with the AK47. He disappeared into the bush but was, I believe, arrested last night.

I visited Chirundu Police Station on my way back from Lusaka to learn that the robbers had made a full confession and they were brought into an office for me to identify and tell their tale. The most annoying and upsetting thing was that they claimed that Kelvin was their inside man who had arranged when they should come and even showed them where I slept. If true, it is a humiliating and depressing thing to learn. I have tried my best to give Kelvin the chance to grow and progress and he is paid a very good salary for this region. I invested a huge amount getting him his driving license and yet this is how he repays me.

The best light that I can put on this is that Kelvin was somehow coerced into doing this, threatened or blackmailed perhaps. I am now waiting for the police to come and pick him up, hopefully today, as it is difficult pretending that everything is Ok in camp when I feel so upset.

Sunday, 09 July 2006

The tension is really getting to me now, I feel constantly wound up and nervous. There is no point trying to confront Kelvin as he has told too many lies already and would continue in his deception. If, on the other hand, he has been telling the truth I will not achieve anything but resentment and anger.

It is imperative that the police come down and pick him up for questioning as soon as humanly possible. What is worse is that I cannot even leave camp because I am sitting by the computer hoping to get a message from Kanyemba that they are sending the cops down to me. All this waiting is nearly impossible to handle.

I need to think about this logically. Kelvin is the one who should be stressing, it is him after all who is the criminal not me. I am only stressed because I cannot get on with what I want to do and sit down with Mweemba to discuss the plan for the staff accommodation because Kelvin will see that there is no separate room for him on it. Also, I am upset that my workers are all lying to me. That should not surprise me, it is natural for them to protect their own and hide the truth about the betrayal.

The tension and stress I feel about waiting for things that are out of my control is merely a reflection of my tendency towards being a control freak. Therefore I should just accept the situation and get on with things until the situation changes.

Keeping secrets and acting normal does not seem to come naturally to me either but it will be over soon and I know that I can handle it. When I think about it I realise that this knowledge has been with me for less than forty-eight hours and that is no time, particularly here in Zambia where all wheels turn slowly.

Tuesday, 11 July 2006

Yesterday I decided that it was time to change the situation and drove Kelvin up to Chirundu myself. He was taken off by a detective and that was the last I saw of him. On the journey we did not speak about the crime at all and I got the feeling that he knew what was coming. There were no protestations of innocence or questions about what the police might want to know, no speculation, nothing.

The police also asked me to identify the robbers in a parade. They made it as simple as possible for me by leading the suspects out while I watched from across the quad in the station but it was not a good enough view for me to truly identify the shorter of the two and I missed him on the second line-up though I did identify him on the first. I actually believe that that makes my witness statement more credible in court because I have consistently said that I would find it difficult to identify him and had I done so might throw the whole of the evidence into doubt.

But then I do not know much about the ways of the Zambian justice system which may assume that all identity parades are rigged and a failure to identify a suspect throws a whole case into doubt. The police seemed satisfied though even if Malama was a bit upset at my failure.

That I feel let down by Kelvin is a bit of an understatement. I suppose that I had expected him to rob me at some point but to go to the length of an armed robbery is hard to swallow.

Wednesday, 12 July 2006

Finally, I believe I have dug down to the truth of the matter. It seems that in the end it was jealousy that was the root of the problem. Kelvin believed that Chrispine had usurped his position as favourite as I was allocating tasks to him that Kelvin thought should be his.

Kelvin believed that Chrispine had used a charm to make Kelvin forget how to drive so that he would take over the role as driver.

Tuesday, 18 July 2006

Almost a week has gone by now with no new developments in the case. Kelvin, as far as I am aware is protesting his innocence and the village scout has fallen of the radar, disappearing into Lusaka perhaps. The fact that John Chilama is Kelvin’s brother makes it difficult to believe that Kelvin was unaware of the robbery even if he was not directly involved and his family loyalties obviously outweigh his loyalty to me by a great extent.

It makes it difficult for me to know what to do about his employment status as he cannot be fired for alleged involvement in the crime but only if he admits his guilt or is proved in court to have been involved. I suppose I shall have to suspend him on pay for the time being and deduct the advances from his salary that he already owes me.

The dormitory in the staff quarters is in the process of going up and looks as though it will be big enough to sleep four in relative comfort. Mweemba does a good job so long as he is well supervised and he seems to enjoy his work.

I had planned to head up to Chirundu yesterday but just did not want to go and managed to shuffle things around so I could stay in camp and play on the computer all day. I seem to have lost all incentive to work recently and am thinking about how I can get things back on track. Of course it is partly the robbery but mainly the insecurity due to the money having run out as everything cost far more than I ever imagined. Everything comes in over budget, even this little staff dormitory is costing more than I had anticipated because Mweemba has used more cement than I budgeted for and that is one thing I cannot salvage from CC Camp. I am hoping that there is a decent length of roofing timber there that I can steal tomorrow morning.

There is now another obvious and difficult chapter to write for the book and perhaps I had better get started on it as soon as but it will be as difficult for me to put into words as the Radar story because, again, it is too close to home. While I am in the UK I am going to have to get myself a copy of the Writer’s and Artist’s Yearbook and see what I need to do to find a publisher. Perhaps I will get an incentive to get working if I have a defined target to work to. There is over half left to do and I am flailing about in the dark to find inspiration.

Wednesday, 19 July 2006

On top of the realisation that I am becoming the laziest writer I know of, I have also realised that my knowledge of local fauna and birdlife is drifting away from me. I cannot even identify the birds in the camp without recourse to a reference book anymore. There is no excuse for that, it is sheer laziness and self-centred absorption that has brought on this malaise and it is time to shake myself awake and get on with life.

I have realised that good things do not come to those who wait but to those who go out and get them. If good things came to the patient then Africa would be a utopia by now, its people having waited for so long for everything. Instead this is a continent where thieves and aggressors prosper and the meek continue to suffer.

Friday, 21 July 2006

I am still puzzled about whether or not Kelvin was involved in the robbery. The inconsistency lies in the part of the story that the robbers gave about Kelvin and John Chilama sleeping at the compound that night. That does not ring true.

It seems that there is talk in the village that Chrispine was the one to blame for Kelvin’s arrest. This of course is not true. I cannot be sure but am guessing that Kelvin’s mother is the primary source of the malicious rumour. I have had to drill into the staff the truth though which has meant releasing a few more facts than I had planned to.

And this afternoon, I found myself apologising to Patros for shouting. I am a soft-hearted boss.

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