My Best Man Hakilli is Dead

By lute wa lutengano

Last Monday at almost midnight I received a call from Cairo, Egypt. I am not in the habit of communicating with Hosni Mubarak, the Kikwete of Egypt, nor his subjects. Actually the call I received was not from any citizen from that land of Pharaohs. Rather it was a call from a friend of mine Ambassador Francis Malambugi who was in Cairo for the African Union Summit meeting.

Ambassador Malambugi was in Egypt as part of President Kiwkete’s delegation to that meeting. That is the meeting which nobody remembers anything about apart from the arrival and presence of the Zimbabwean Jongwe (Cock) Robert Mugabe, who among other things claimed the epitome of the most quoted presidential haranguing of scribes when he called the British journalist ‘Bloody Idiots.’

“I am calling to inform you that our friend Gasper Hakilli is no more,” the Ambassador told me over the phone adding that Hakilli died in Abuja, Nigeria where he had been posted by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for the past five or so years.

I was lost for words. Ambassador Malambugi must have been shocked because I did not say anything more. My memory drifted way back to the early 70s.

I was in high school at the then famous Mkwawa High School. A veteran of that school having been there for my secondary education as well, I was monitoring the new form V arrivals when I came across this very slim guy with painted snickers. The oldies will remember the era when teenagers used to paint their rubber shoes with slogans such as ‘Soul Guy’ or ‘Super Bad.’ His had the ‘Never Die’ slogan.

He had joined Mkwawa from Mirambo Secondary School in Tabora. I found him cool. As I was among the cool guys at the school I welcomed him to my group which included the music group, ‘The Midnight Movers’ for soul music and ‘Orchestra Mkwawa’ which had the name ‘Ligija Ndumba Sukisa’ added to its name, courtesy of our tumba player, Zacharia Kakobe, he of the Full Gospel Church fame.

I was further pleased to realise that the new ex-Mirambo school cool guy, Gasper Hakilli, was joining my class stream. Being a veteran I managed to ensure that he got accommodation in my dormitory cubicle. And our friendship flourished.

We both joined the University of Dar es Salaam after high school. Needless to say we ended up, by design, sharing a room at the university. The highlights of our stay together was the day when the Hall Master threw us out of our room because of our what he called ‘our turning the room into a disturbing and distinctively dirty environment,’ courtesy of our turning the floor into carpet of cigarette butts.

I also remember another incident when one of our Assistant Lecturers, with whom we used to share a drink at Mama Nguruwe’s joint at Mikoroshoni, complained to us about his two errand students who had never attended his class. A few months later he was shocked to learn that the two students were actually us who were his friends. We ended up settling the case out of court, or rather out of the University Management System.

Three years later Hakilli joined the Ministry of Foreign Affairs while I landed at the Government owned Daily/Sunday News. Fancy what? We ended up sharing our first rented room at Wibu street in Kinondoni area. This went on for some time. Actually we were so close that most people were confusing me for him and vice versa.

No wonder when, years later, I got married at the Kinondoni Leaders Club, he was my best man. Being a senior Foreign Service Officer, forced my friend to become a glob trotter with lengthy stints in Australia and Europe. His last stint was in Nigeria. That is where my best man died. May God rest his soul in peace! Amen! lutengano@hotmail.com.