Gipiir and Labongo #16

By Kamusiime Mugisha

Labongo had a monkey on his back. He came from a long line of great men who had been tried and tested by warfare. He had had his own share of battle. He came out victorious on enemy lines more times than often. He commanded a strong & loyal army. He was the ideal son that every mother wanted to have. The man that every woman wanted their husband to be. The leader that any man would want on the battlefield. But was he?

Labongo was not a god. He was a man. He bled. He sweated. He cried. He wailed. And that he did more than anyone else.

From the day he lost his mother, it felt like he had lost both parents. His father became distant. When he was around, he was insufferable. The loss hit them both hard, but with the father, it was one he was not prepared to take. He was now left with two young boys to raise, and he too harbored the fear that he may not have been able to do it all on his own. Within their culture, children belonged to the community. They were raised not only by their parents but also by the elders in the village. It could be an aunt, grandfather, or distant relative. As long as they were part of the community it was their responsibility. But not the royalty. They belonged to only those that were fit to raise the tribe’s leaders. A chief was raised only by a chief because only he knew what it took to lead. But this chief could not do it alone, and so he was troubled. 

He never did foster a proper relationship with his first son. Everything with him was a test. There was no room for error. Your alternatives were either good or great. And so Labongo tried his best to be the best. To prove to his father that he could be what he wanted him to be. But as he got older he realised he was not given a choice on what his life could have been. He was born into this role. He unlike the ordinary man had not been given the chance to decide what he wanted to be. 

When Labongo’s father handed him the ceremonial spear, never in his life had he been so elated. All his life he had sought his father’s approval, and the spear felt like he had finally earned it. But the last time he had been away when the elephant had attacked the village, he had started to feel like his life was not his to live…. 

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By Mugabe Victor 

“It’s been four moons now,” Achola whispered under her breath,” Do you think he even made it?” 

“Do not speak of such things in front of me, woman,” Labongo begged, sleep, barely a word he could testify to anymore. 

“Do you think it was the right choice?”

Patience. A trait that run short through the young chief’s veins of late. What was he to do with this daughter of the sun? Was her intention to merely restate every question that had already plagued his conscience? 

“Gipiir is a grown man,” Labongo growled, “I trust that he will know what to do.”

“And what do you expect him to do?” 

“She just will not shut up, will she?” the voices in his head complained

“Find my spear or return to the village and grovel,” Labongo whispered under his breath, “And as chief, what would you do with such a man?”

A trick question of course. Something to get her to finally put herself in his shoes. ” Take a limb in exchange for my mercy?”

” Do you even listen to yourself?” She fumed rolling over to her side, ” He is your brother,” 

There she went again, tagging at his heart strings. ” The greater the necessity then,” Labongo muttered as he finally pulled his ragged body from its slumber. He had finally come to terms with his fate. The woman would not shut up.

“For the ordinary man, mediocrity is trait, for our family, it is privilege we cannot bear to sustain,” Labongo continued, “Keep that in mind as you raise our offspring,”

“Says the man that couldn’t even speak at five,” she muttered

A stab in the back. What the hell was she trying to get at? 

“Speak if you want to say something; I will not tolerate your tongue any further,”

” You have not been yourself Labongo,” she cried, ” and my heart cannot bear to see it. Your brother saved the village,  and me, but lost a stick,”

Labongo’s fist clenched at the sound 

” And now you speak of taking his limbs, what are you trying to be? A monster or a chief? What would your father have done?”

Grinding his teeth, his life flashed before his eyes, ” Probably worse,” he growled as he covered himself up, marching off into the silence of the night. Better the cold than that inceset voice.

TO BE CONTINUED NEXT WEDNESDAY