Daily bread

This morning at about 10:15 I was stopped by the police. I was a about halfway between Pwani Mchangani and Kinyasini.

A policeman asked for my driving licence, so I gave it to him. But after checking, he didn't return it to me. He ordered me though to get out of my car. When I asked what was going on, he said that I had made a BIG mistake.

By getting out of my car, I realized that on the opposite side of the street there was a car with a policeman and a speed machine.

I asked again what was wrong, but didn't get an answer.
As the sun was burning and I didn't want to be on the road (also because it is dangerous), I decided to wait into my car. On that moment the policeman became very aggressive to me, trying to withhold mi to get into my car. He didn't succeed so than he tried to take the car keys from me. I could hide them and told that I wanted to wait in the car, but he was just shouting to me.

On all the questions I had (why should I wait outside my car, what was exactly going on), I just didn't get an answer, the man just continued shouting that I had made a BIG mistake.

One of the other police man (there were 5 police men and 1 military) came to me and showed the machine. Apparently I had been driving 68 km/h. I was not denying as I know that could be  more or less the speed I have on the straight parts of the country roads with no houses and no traffic. Though in that area there are no signs of any speed limit.

Another agent came to take some personal details of me and forced me to sign a paper (a list) in which I declare to have committed this “error”.

Suddenly  that  policeman went to the other side of my car and took out the sticker with the green card of the car. It was impossible to stop him.

None of the policeman was giving any information (apart from telling me that I had made a BIG mistake); the military pretends even not to speak English, and it was not possible the get my driving license and green card back.

In the mean time they had stopped another car behind me, with also a European lady, and they were treating her in the same way as they were treating me: taking away the driving licence, taking away the sticker with the green card, forcing her to sign the paper.

Nobody was giving me any information (what will go on now? How will I get my driving licence and green card back?), they only said “Kiwengwa Police station”. Actually they hardly speak English.

This was very confusing for both of us, so we started to ask for their identification numbers but they were all hiding it, refusing to show it to.

So as we didn't know what to do, we started taking pictures of these police man so that at least there would be a way to identify them.

This must have scared them because suddenly they all run to the car and drove away. I tried to stop the car because I still wanted my driving licence back but they were ignoring me almost running over me.

They hadn't given any information, any paper, any contact…

I continued my way and stopped at the police station in Mahonda, asking the police there to make up a declaration of what happened. I told my story to Mr. Kipano who was listening very well and willing to help me: again I declared that I was not contesting the speed, but that the way they had treated me (and the other lady) was very rude and didn't seem to be very regular.

He wrote me a declaration that I had no driving license so that I could continue my way and could show the police in case there was another control. Also the other lady came there and received the same declaration.

We agreed that I would come back in the afternoon and that we would go together to Kiwengwa to get my driving licence & green card back.

We did so indeed and I got my driving licence and green card back. Mr. Kipano in the meantime also had organised that the other lady had her green card back.

I asked him what had happened; he only answered me that they definitively had not been following the regular procedures.

Mr. Kipano has been very helpful and correct in this matter. This cannot been said of the police man on the road: the have been abusing their position & their uniform to intimidate two ladies by accusing us of mistakes they even cannot proof (there is no speed limit sign on the whole road).

Badly for them, they have met the wrong women: the other lady and me, we don’t let them bulldozer over us…