-
January 26, 2021The Half-Price Book Store
While in Nairobi for medical reasons, I thought of purchasing some books I will leave for Abdalla to continue his course of reading he has engaged over the past year. It has broadened his world knowledge and his English vocabulary. He has gotten to where he devours his free time with reading.
I googled used books shops and found one named Half-Price Book Store located in the downtown area of Nairobi. Kathy and I took a taxi and were dropped off nearby. As we walked the busy streets looking for the building, I became intrigued by the many shops along the streets, it had the feeling of inner-city Detroit back in the 60’s. The book shop was located on the second floor of Hibi Tower. Kathy and I climbed the stairs and found several books to purchase, some of which included those of Mitch Albom, Billy Graham, and others. I was incredibly happy as we carried two bags out with us.
We were somewhere near the Cathedral, so we decided to try to locate it. We did not get one hundred feet down the sidewalk when two Kenyan police officers, dressed in full uniform with rifles strung over their shoulders stopped us and said, “you know this is a routine check, are you understanding us”? We both said yes, and they asked for our identifications. We both showed them our passports, Kenyan ID’s, and work permits. Mine were kept in my wallet which I keep in a zipped pocket of my backpack. In all the times I have walked around I have never been given a second look by a police officer. One officer looked at Kathy’s documents and said all is okay, but when they got to my Kenyan ID, it had expired. I realized this in December, but after asking a couple of locals as to what I can do to have a renewed one, I decided not to act on it right away because if I go to immigrations with an expired ID, it could cause some troubles for me. I have learned on the government website that these need to be renewed 3 months before the expiration. I justified to myself that I was between “a rock and a hard place”.
I tried to explain to them that it expired when I traveled for my mother’s funeral, and once I returned to Kenya, I had medical issues and spent a month in Nairobi hoping for a bit of empathy, but he said that there is no excuse for negligence of the law. I knew that I was in the wrong.
The government and the police are unpretentiously corrupt, they feed off the people of Kenya. And if you end up going to court, it just becomes worse because they also are corrupt. What they usually want is a bribe for any little thing and if you are in the right, they will position you to be in the wrong. They begin by threatening you with the fine that the court will charge you, but before you get a court date you are arrested and put in jail to await the date. Once you get the date, they tell you that it was cancelled and must remain in jail until another date is set, which can go on for some time. During this period people are searching for funds outside to pay the bribe. Jails are not a place I would ever want to be in, especially here. There are many in each cell and maybe a bucket is provided as a shared toilet.
So here is how my experience played out as much as I can remember. The officers began telling me that this was a very serious offense and that the fine would be 50,000 shillings (five hundred dollars) once I went to court, but unfortunately since it is Saturday, we will have to arrest you and keep you in a cell and wait for the courts to open on Monday. They asked Kathy if we were husband and wife as they continued mumbling along. They looked at Kathy and told her she will need to bring me some fruits to eat, and she said “okay”, then asked as to where the jail was located. She was trying to play into their game because recently police confronted her because she had forgotten to wear her mask. That is a 20,000 fine. They said she would have to get in the back of the police truck, and she calmly responded “okay”. The officers consulted one another and told her this a very stern warning and let her go because she showed not fear.
I handed her my bag of books and backpack and started walking away with the officers. I was becoming angry but kept my composure because here I could have been handcuffed, beaten, or even shot. My biggest fear was of going to jail. We walked a short bit, then they told me to bring Kathy along. One officer took Kathy and walked ahead of us while me and the other walked and had conversation. I asked him what I could do so I was not arrested, and he said how much do you have. I said I have five hundred shillings and some loose in my pocket, a total of about $9, reached in my pocket and took it out, he immediately said "don’t show that". We came to an alley and they said let’s go this way which made us both a bit nervous. The officer then replied that is not enough, it will take about 20,000 are we together, and I told him I do not carry that amount, and I just spent my money on these books for poor youth in Mombasa. He went on to say that the jails are awfully bad, you know that there are homosexuals there. I said yes, again he said how much do you have, again I pulled out the shillings from my pocket in spite and he said put that away.
Then he said I saw money in your wallet when you retrieved your identifications, how much do you have? I then replied about 7-8000. He told me to show him, I began pulling them out one by one leaving a five hundred in my wallet. He said what about that five hundred and I glared at him stating, can I at least buy lunch? He took the money and said you know you are lucky to have been with nice officers like us. I said thank you and we parted ways.
What a horribly painful and fearful time for me. With four months remaining to be in Kenya, I need to search for a safe way to resolve this, but as of now I don’t know the resolve.
Even with all that has been taking place in the US, we have it so much better than living in these corrupt countries. There are no rights for people, but they realize they are stuck in this life and must live it day by day.
Life has truly been an adventure here to say the least!
God Bless you all!
