It Can’T Be True: A Story from Uganda—The Pearl of Africa

By John R.P. Mwakyusa

It Cant Be True

At a very tender age, Albert loses his parents to the brutality of government soldiers who kill them in cold blood. After witnessing the killing of his innocent parents and having nothing else to lose, Albert is forced to join a rebel group that is waging a protracted war against the ruling Government of Uganda. The rebel group stages a successful coup dtat. Years later, Albert joins the new government as a security operative. It is on the course of executing his roles; he is assigned a role to apprehend the masterminds of the death of Alvin Kasalirwe, an illustrious UStrained Ugandan lawyer. Will Albert help in apprehending the culprits, or will they survive to wreak even more mayhem on law-abiding civilians? The book captures both the past and the present of Uganda, giving a reader a glimpse into what makes the country both dissimilar and similar to its neighbors.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Partridge Publishing India
• Release date: Jul 13, 2017
• ISBN: 9781543700404

John R.P. Mwakyusa

John R. P. Mwakyusa, who hails from Mbeya-Tanzania, was born in 1970. He studied at Njombe and Tosamaganga Secondary Schools in Iringa. He served a year of mandatory National Service at Mlale JKT Camp in 1992/1993. It was at Njombe Secondary School where the author honed his writing skills under the tutelage of Isaac Nyagawa and Cecilia Kabyemera. He studied at University of Dar-es-Salaam for his first and third degrees and in between pursued a Master in Business Administration (MBA) at Makerere University-Uganda. John is married to Teddy Mwingizi. The couple is blessed with two lovely children (Salay and Samuel). The author is a Senior Lecturer at the University of Dar-es-Salaam.

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Copyright © 2017 by John R.P. Mwakyusa.

ISBN:                      Softcover                 978-1-5437-0041-1

                              eBook                      978-1-5437-0040-4

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the author except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

Scripture quotations marked GNT are taken from the Good News Translation — Second Edition. Copyright © 1992 by American Bible Society. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

www.partridgepublishing.com/india

A NOTE TO READERS

Dear reader, if you have a feedback

or comments to make regarding this book,

please do not hesitate to contact the author through:

[e-mail] or [e-mail]

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Dedication

Disclaimer

Acknowledgements

Chapter 1     Unfortunate Start

Chapter 2     Mistaken Adventure

Chapter 3     Wrong Rendezvous

Chapter 4     Thrilling Trip

Chapter 5     Tough Calling

Chapter 6     Initiation into the World

Chapter 7     Spoiler

Chapter 8     Rededication to the Maker

Chapter 9     Tranquility

Chapter 10   Encounter of Rivals

Chapter 11   Refusal and Tears

Chapter 12   Bitter Knowledge

Chapter 13   Twists and Turns

DEDICATION

I dedicate this book to my beloved mummy the late Salay Sambogo (1949-1999) and my son the late Steve John (2011-2013).

You are my mother

I love you like no other

I would not trade you for another

Not in this life

Not for a lifetime

You are the queen …

I love you, mama

Nancy Lazaro (2012).

DISCLAIMER

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

He says, All the leaders, who are supposed to warn my people, are blind! They know nothing. They are like watch dogs that don’t bark—they only lie around and dream. How they love to sleep! They are like greedy dogs that never get enough. These leaders have no understanding. They each do as they please and seek their own advantage. ‘Let’s get some wine,’ these drunkards say, ‘and drink all we can hold! Tomorrow will be even better than today!’ Isaiah 56:10-12

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Xavier Sentamu

Teddy Mwingizi

Samuel John

Salay John

Rev. Anyingisye Mwasandube

Raphael Anthony Mwakagali

Primus Karugendo

Philemon Jonasi Basuke Mwakyusa

Mithali Angundile Mwasambogo

Mette Renolen

MacDonald Prosper

Jonathan Cleophacy

Isaac Nyagawa

Hanifa Tambwe

Furaha Mwakyusa

Frances Wilson

Flossie Philemon Mwakyusa

Festo Boaz Mwaipaja

Faridah Nyaoro

Ephraim Asumwisye Mwasanguti

Emmanuel Mwaibanje

Elvis Khisa

Elia Mwaifuge

Dege Sijaona

David Itibi Ndung’u

David Angundile Mwakasita

Charles Donald Mwakapola

Cecilia Kabyemera

Carol Valerie Atworo

Bodil Lunde Rørtveit

Aswile Nkyumu Mwasilembo

Alex Msele

Almighty GOD

CHAPTER ONE

Unfortunate Start

W e shouldn’t have killed his wife. One of the men said as they marched past Albert’s hide-out. A shocked Albert wets his shorts. Go and resurrect her – c’mon let’s go." Another man who seemed to be in charge of the operation shouted. He looked more ruthless and his face was as expressionless as the statue of Lenin.

Albert remembered quite vividly the day his loving parents died at the hands of ruthless men in 1984. Albert then aged just 10 was returning home from Kyashemeire Primary School in Mbarara, Uganda when all of a sudden he saw men dressed in camouflage combat gear surveying the compound of his home. He could not believe his eyes and instinctively dashed into a nearby bush to hide. From the bush, he saw the men flogging, kicking and beating his parents mercilessly. He started crying silently, with tears cascading down his cheeks. He felt sorry for his parents not knowing what to do and what wrong they had done.

A minute or so later he saw one of the men cocking his gun and shooting at the inert bodies of his parents which were lying on the ground. The tears dried from his eyes and what remained was bewilderment at the ruthlessness of people who behaved worse than wild animals. When the soldiers were satisfied that his parents had breathed their last, they started moving in single file to where he was hiding. His heart stopped beating. They passed without seeing him. He was astounded.

When he was satisfied that the men had disappeared and daylight was giving way to darkness, Albert emerged from the bush and tiptoed home.

Reaching there, he saw his parents’ bodies lying dead in a pool of clotting blood. He couldn’t stand that. His legs turned to jelly and could not support his small frail body. He fell over the bodies and burst into tears. After a few minutes he could still hear the sounds of machine gun fire in the distance. Villagers started shouting and crying all over the village at the tops of their voices and running helter-skelter past Albert’s home into the nearest forest to hide.

Albert’s body was so weak he could not lift his feet to follow them. He found peace being with the dead bodies of his once loving parents. He looked down at the clotted blood that had spread leaving marks as if a kindergarten-going child had been trying to write the letter S. After an hour or so Albert fell asleep right there on his parents’ dead bodies.

Very early in the morning, around five, Albert was woken up by four plain-clothed men. The plain-clothed men dug two shallow graves and unceremoniously buried the bodies of Albert’s parents before forcing him, and other unwilling men to join them in the bush for a protracted bush war.

After three months of training at Nakasongola Military Training Camp, Albert got involved in various military escapades and battles. Albert, unlike most soldiers was not interested in political ideologies or the liberation struggle but was rather motivated by seeking revenge for his dead parents. As I have lost my parents, I have nothing else to lose but the bullets. With that Albert and other soldiers would volunteer to go anywhere at any time to cause havoc at any of the military bases in and around Kampala.

When the NRA seized power on 26th January 1986, Albert and other soldiers who had not completed school joined special schools. These schools were eventually closed when the soldiers who fought the liberation war were rehabilitated and reintegrated into the mainstream education system. Major General Marko Chagonza, under whom Albert had fought during the last three months before the capture of Kampala, provided shelter for the young Albert, seeing him through Kings College Budo to the gates of Makerere University- where he graduated