The Synopsis Of The Ugandan Affair

THE SYNOPSIS OF “THE UGANDAN AFFAIR:DANGEROUS SUBSTITUTE” This story starts with the life of the main character from his days as a pupil at a prestigious boarding school in Uganda. It then details his journey into a civil war that sees him become a child soldier in the rebel camp and a witness to all the civil war atrocities that even a hardened adult would have trouble dealing with. The second half of the story shows him growing up and finally finishing school, whereby he begins a career in government which sees him posted to the Uganda High Commission in London where he comes face to face with his nemesis from the civil war of his interrupted childhood. It begins with the boy, Fene, having a chance encounter with the dictator Idi Amin who is on a lightning visit to his school to castigate staff members who have broken a ban imposed by him by a Decree. The ban is on listening top the BBC but some expatriate staff members at the school have gone a step further and given an interview to the much-hated radio network. Amin, currently in the process of fighting his amassed enemies in a civil war, is targeted by a small band of rebels who shell the building he has just vacated after lambasting the school administration. This leads to a prolonged exchange of fire between the Presidential Protection Unit and rebels. In the confusion, Amin escapes and the school children are dispersed by the gunfire and end up fleeing to the surrounding hills. The boy is taken out of harms way by a popular member of staff only to be caught by avenging soldiers who desperately want vengeance on any and all they suspect of helping the rebels target the President at the school. The teacher is shot dead and the student, Fene, who is with him is only saved by the intervention of the rebels who chance upon the scene while making their escape. It is then that the main character, Fene, begins his adventure of living (and staying alive) as a child soldier and undergoes 6 months of hell learning how to shoot, lay booby traps, spy and carry ammunition for the rebel commander under whose wing he finds himself. As the civil war draws to a close, he is catapulted to fame by a chance second encounter with the fleeing dictator whereby the boy disarms and almost manages to capture him. He retains an ivory handled pistol in that encounter that was a trademark of Amin, as proof of his near capture. After the war, he restarts his education at a military academy set up by the new government to cater for the many orphans/child soldiers that it had taken on while it was still a rebel force. Switch to ten years later and after graduating with a first class Economics degree from Makerere University, he is fast tracked through the civil service. All seems to be going well but he is still haunted by the two near death experiences at the hands of Amin’s henchmen, his witnessing of the atrocities and,

worst of all, his legendary status that he tired of long time ago. He contacts his ex-commanding officer who has been posted to London as the Deputy High Commissioner and tells him of the problems he is experiencing with people only wanting to be with him because of his status while others have grudges because they feel he is getting preferential treatment all the time. The ex-commanding officer is only too happy to oblige and uses his influence to get Fene posted to London in the High Commission as the Commercial Attaché. Unbeknownst to Fene is the fact that his superior wanted him to come to London to do a dirty deed to a very dastardly person who has been resident in London since soon after the 1979 war. The person is none other than the infamous Baridi, the Presidential bodyguard under Idi Amin. He was not only behind the many deaths of innocents in Uganda during the dictators regime (1971-1979) but was also the force behind theh High Commissioner’s flight into exile in 1976, the executor of Fene’s teacher in 1979 and also the subject of his nightmares from childhood since he tried to kill him twice, also in 1979. On arrival in London, Fene gets to work oblivious to the plans that the High Commissioner has for him concerning Baridi who has re-invented himself as a security consultant who gets lots of contracts to guard visiting celebrities and organise the security for promotional events. But Baridi has been made aware of the arrival of Fene but is not sure if Fene’s surprise posting to London has anything to do with the past events. Being a naturally suspicious person, Baridi decides to liquidate Fene as soon as possible and is only delayed by the inability to come up with a foolproof plan that will not lead to him or his nefarious associates becoming suspects. He also has to ensure that his original immigration status as a Sudanese refugee is not compromised. In trying to make the murder unsolvable, he makes three attempts that go unnoticed by Fene who is, at the time, infatuated by the first girl he has met who loves him for himself and not his reputation. It is only on the fourth attempt that Fene is made aware that something strange is happening. In this attempt, his life is saved by a startling demonstration of martial arts by her as she who fights off the attack by the assassins in her home. This attack brings Fene to the attention of the Diplomatic Protection Group of New Scotland Yard since it is seen as an attack on a member of the Diplomatic Corps. The High Commissioner covers up for his junior by feigning ignorance about the whole matter to the Scotland Yard detectives while pledging to better protect his staff from ‘criminal elements’. But he does come clean when telling Fene of the whole plan, pleading that he cannot risk telling the police because the laws of England are too lax and evidence is too weak to convict Baridi. To compound matters more, he tells Fene that if Baridi is taken alive, he could embarrass historical political heavyweights who would not like their past deeds under the Amin regime to go under the microscope.

He tells Fene that in order to get appropriate revenge they must handle the matter in their own way, using the line of national duty, something that a soldier like Fene would not question. Thrown back to the ghosts of his past, he hatches a plan with the aid of an ageing British mercenary, who is currently running a Butlering school with a difference, teaching Butlering but also weapons training, eavesdropping, defensive driving, martial arts, computing and a host of skills that are a necessity for anyone looking for employment in the personal service of the rich and famous in the post cold war era we live in. He implements his plan to get his revenge on Baridi culminating in an epic battle in London in which Baridi’s business empire and credibility crumbles around him as he fakes his own death to escape prosecution and pursuit. In the end, the New Scotland Yard quietly requests the Ugandan High Commission to repatriate Fene to save its own face from embarrassment. The embarrassment would have been brought about by the findings of the pesky tabloid press that had launched an investigation into the causes of the mayhem that the battle on London streets had wrought. In return for keeping the affair a secret, the High Commissioner and the British Ministry of Foreign Affairs agree that Fene should be moved to a High commission elsewhere without any mention of his recent deeds being kept on file. Fene is sent on to the Uganda High Commission in Canada where his now estranged girlfriend has also been posted to oversee the expansion of the North American operations of the fashion house that she works for. Unknown to him at the time of packing his bags is that his nemesis has also managed to sneak into Canada. Baridi is now posing as an aging lecturer from Congo who has been hounded out of the country by the fighting factions there who are ‘opposed to democracy’….