Why  “Mr Kazitape” quit  his job

Thu, 06 Apr 2017 11:05:11 +0000

By Philip Chirwa

The editor in question, who I will nickname Mr Kazitape for purpose of this story, had wanted very much to go on this presidential tour but management, in their infinite wisdom, had picked on me, a junior to him, instead. That was to mark the genesis of the grudge that my boss would have for me henceforth.

It was no wonder, therefore,  that when the Zambia Daily Mail management received a confidential report  from the police while I was away that I had engaged in some  fraudulent  activities with some Asian businessmen in Lusaka, my dear old Mr Kazitape,  could not wait to leak this “juicy” information to my colleagues on the News Desk.

“Mr Chirwa is finished,” he allegedly told the reporters. “He is not aware police are waiting for him. As soon as he lands at the airport (meaning the now Kenneth Kaunda International Airport), from the overseas tour, CID’s will pounce on him and whisk him away to Police Force Headquarters to answer charges.”

According to the reporters, Mr Kazitape   was relaying this information to them with obvious glee, although he had warned them: “Keep what I have told you to your chests.  Just wait for him to come back.”

Dr Kaunda and his entourage (we were 55 of us in total using the Zambia Airways Boeing 707 aircraft commanded by Captain Godfrey Mulundika) finally returned home to a tumultuous welcome after nearly three weeks. Hundreds of Lusaka residents had thronged the airport to welcome their Head of State who had been away for so long. The Zambia National Dance Troupe was also there to entertain the huge crowd.

Since nothing happened at the airport and I was unaware of what had been going on behind my back, I thought everything was business as usual. The following morning, I reported for work and everybody gave me a hug, including my News Editor,   Mr Kazitape. In the absence of any adverse information, I considered all the hugs to be genuine.

But as the day progressed, I somehow sensed that something somewhere was amiss. I thought the manner the reporters             were looking at me was not usual: it was as if they were hiding something from me. Meanwhile, Mr Kazitape did not help matters because after giving me that hug in the morning, he did not talk to me again!

Fortunately, two of the reporters apparently felt sorry for me and decided to confide in me on what had been happening while I was away. They said as far as they and  the other reporters  on the News Desk were concerned, they were happy that I was still a free man because they were expecting me to be in jail by that time.

“In jail for what?” I asked, shocked.

“Mr Kazitape knows everything because he is the one who told us about what was to happen to you upon landing at Lusaka International Airport,” one of the reporters said.

“But he hasn’t told me anything. Remember he also hugged me when I reported for work this morning?” I said.

“That hug was a fake one,” the other reporter replied. “In fact, we were all surprised that he did that because we knew it was a fake hug. The man was only playing Judas Iscariot. Can’t you see that he hasn’t talked to you since that hug? He’s feeling very guilty that you are still around when he told us you would be arrested upon landing at the airport.”

This did not make any sense to me. Why should I be arrested upon landing at the airport as if I had committed any crime?

Just then my extension line rang. It was the Deputy Editor-In-Chief, Mr Dick Mpheneka (now late), asking me to go and see him in his office. Within a minute, I was in his office.

MPHENEKA: “Welcome back home once more.”

CHIRWA: “Thank you, sir.”

MPHENEKA: “You did a very good job, I must say. Your coverage of the presidential tour was excellent. You went with journalism gurus from the other organizations but you refused to be intimidated. The Editor-In-Chief  and I are very proud of you.”

CHIRWA: “Thank you, sir, thank you for appreciating my work. I feel humbled and encouraged  by your words of compliment.”

Mr Mpheneka then came to the subject of why he had called for me. “Has Mr Kazitape briefed you on anything today?” he asked.

CHIRWA (feigning ignorance): “No, what’s it?”

MPHENEKA: “You mean Mr Kazitape hasn’t briefed you on what was going on while you were away?”

CHIRWA:”Not at all. Of course, he greeted me in the morning but since then he hasn’t talked to me on anything.”

MPHENEKA: “What’s the problem with Mr Kazitape? He should have briefed you first. You are his chief reporter, so he was supposed to be the first to brief you so that you were aware of what’s going on.”

CHIRWA: “Perhaps he knows better why he didn’t brief me.”

Mr Mpheneka asked me whether I had any business dealings with any Indian traders in town. When I told him I had none, he looked surprised and asked, “Are you sure, Mr Chirwa? You mean before you went on the recent presidential tour, you didn’t get any goods from some Indian shops in Lusaka?”

CHIRWA: “God is my witness. I did not get any goods from any Indian shop. If I did, why should I refuse?  That is news to me.”

MPHENEKA: “If what you are saying is true-and we have no reason to doubt your word-  then management has been vindicated. We had told these people it couldn’t be true because we knew you couldn’t have been involved in such activities but they insisted it was and produced documentary evidence to prove it.”

CHIRWA: “Interesting. They produced documentary evidence to prove that I fraudulently obtained goods from their shops?”

MPHENEKA: “Yes.”

CHIRWA: “What evidence?”

MPHENEKA: “Your National Registration Card whose number matched with the one we have on our personnel records.”

According to Mr Mpheneka, while I was away, five Indian traders approached management upon seeing my by-lines in the Zambia Daily Mail on my coverage of the presidential state visits. They produced photocopies of an NRC whose number matched with the one kept by our personnel department. To make things worse, the NRC bore my photograph!

CHIRWA: “Did this Chirwa approach these businessmen in person or what?”

MPHENEKA: “I don’t know the actual details yet. What I know is that he produced an NRC bearing your number.”

CHIRWA: “But where did this man collect my NRC because at no time have I lost my NRC? I surrendered my old NRC to the Department of National Registration in Kamwala area, after which they gave me a new one, which I have.”

MPHENEKA: “As I have said, I really don’t know the actual  details of the case  but that’s what the Indian traders are claiming.”

Mr Mpheneka gave me a list of the traders concerned and allowed  me the  whole morning the following day to approach them to see if they could identify me as the person who had obtained goods from their shops.

The following morning, around 08:30, I was at the first Indian trader’s shop on Cairo Road. He was alone seated behind the counter. I greeted him and asked him if I reminded him of somebody he had business dealings with. He looked at me for a  while and nodded his head, saying: “Not that I know of. Who said I had business dealings with you?|”

CHIRWA: “But that’s what you told my management at Zambia Daily Mail. My name is Philip Chirwa and here I am in flesh and blood.  Does that name ring a bell to you?”

TRADER: “But you can’t be Philip Chirwa. If I saw the Philip Chirwa I dealt with, I would recognize him immediately and you are not the one.”

CHIRWA: “But I am the only Philip Chirwa working at the Zambia Daily Mail and you went to report there that I had obtained goods from your shop by false pretences.”

TRADER: “Then I dealt with a fake Philip Chirwa. You are certainly not the one.”

The second, third and fourth traders told me the same story: while they could positively identify the person who had obtained goods from their shops, they denied that I was that person. From there, I proceeded to the fifth shop located in the Thorn Park trading area

where I was informed that the alleged culprit had been handed over to the police.

I was told that the Thorn Park trader, who was a reserve police inspector, knew me personally and when this impostor identified himself as Philip Chirwa, he knew he was telling lies.

“But rather than tell the impostor right there and then that he was a cheat, our boss told  him to come and collect the goods at 14 hours. Meanwhile, he reported the matter to Lusaka Central Police CID who were waiting for him in the shop when he came back to collect the goods,” one of the shop assistants I found at the shop said, adding that the suspect was then in detention at Lusaka Central Police Station for questioning.

From Thorn Park,I went straight to Lusaka Central Police Station and reported myself to the Frauds Section. As soon as they saw me, the CID’s there, most of whom knew me from my coverage of court cases, chanted: “Here comes Mr Philip Chirwa! Here comes Mr Philip Chirwa! You are welcome!”

They then offered me a seat, with the officer-in-charge of the section asking me whether I was aware that I had a “twin brother also called Philip Chirwa” at the station. I said I was not aware. One of the officers was sent to collect the “other Philip Chirwa” from the cells and when he came, the officer-in-charge  asked him: “Look at this gentleman here(referring to me). Do you know him?”

SUSPECT:  “I don’t know him.”

OFFICER-IN-CHARGE (to me): “Do you know him?”

CHIRWA: “He’s a total stranger to me.”

OFFICER-IN-CHARGE: “But this is the man who was going round Indian shops masquerading as Philip Chirwa. Unfortunately for him, he went to Thorn Park shopping centre where the owner of the shop knew you personally. He is the one who has helped to apprehended him.”

The suspect’s surname turned out to be a Chilongoshi and when I asked him where he had obtained my old NRC since I had surrendered it to the Department of National Registration in Kamwala, he replied: “I got it from there. Somebody gave it to me at a fee.”

When Chilongoshi eventually appeared before a Lusaka magistrate’s court, he freely and voluntarily admitted to five counts of obtaining goods by false pretences worth hundreds of kwacha at that time’s currency. The court jailed him for 18 months with hard labour on each count to run concurrently, meaning that he was to serve only 18 months.

Back at Zambia Daily Mail, I could see that Mr Kazitape was feeling uneasy about the turn of events. He would have loved to tell the reporters: “You see? I told you Mr Chirwa was a criminal and now he is in jail.” But unfortunately for him, things didn’t turn his way, so the next thing he did was to resign from Zambia Daily Mail “for personal reasons.”

On my part, since I had no issues with him, I forgave him from the bottom of my heart because I knew he did not know what he was doing.

The author is a Lusaka-based media consultant who also worked in the Foreign Service as a diplomat in South Africa and Botswana. For comments, sms 0977425827/0967146485 or email:pchirwa2009@yahoo.com.