【Short Story】"Who is A Just Judge?" by OLEPA #5
Justice Cohen a judge in Township Law Courts was the leader of the interview. After analyzing the results of the interview, it was not surprising that Mrs. Cohen–his wife was the top candidate for the job. The other candidate would automatically be a man according to courtship’s detailed constitution. Mbaku’s name was mentioned as a good choice but a phone call changed the whole scenario. Hon. Lowe a famous politician in Banda region called Mr. Cohen and asked him and the panel to give the position to his son and one of the applicants Mr. Hutchin. Hon. Lowe further pledged to ‘oil’ their fingers with good stuff. The idea of getting something in return from the filthy politician was too tempting. Mr. Madi, a human rights activist and one of the panelists complained about the ill-move but he was told to shut up as no one was ‘clean’ in the country.
Mr. Hutchin, once Mbaku classmate in high school was given the post. He was a failure in class and was never any close to Mbaku. Mbaku remembers how he copied his essay in exams and was stupid enough to write Mbaku’s name! But that is life, sometimes right people are not fortunate. So, that was another fail for Mbaku, he nearly lost his mind. Things got worse when Regi, his long standing girlfriend dumped him for being ‘unlucky’ in life.
Mbaku woke up from his meditation and realised that his hands were wet from tears. He quickly wiped off and reached for a basin to wash his face, it was an awkward thing for a man’s tear to be seen in Banda tradition. He rose up put on his faded pair of jeans, took with him hardly earned money from working in a nearby farm and made for Banda Town.
It was now a month since the court started operating and that was the day when the proceedings were started, the public was invited and so Mbaku decided to be a ‘judge in the audience.’ After an hour trek, he took a bus and reached Township Law Courts just in time before the proceeding started. He was ashamed to meet their eyes and so he shifted his focus to the fellow audience. Many people came to witness how the just process is conducted. The old, the young, men and women all were in attendance.
