More Altercations (2002)

Excerpt from the draft of "Apostle to the Pygmies – The Doctor Jerry Galloway Story"

I had an altercation with the local officials and the chief of police. The Kiri territory administrator ordered the chief to collect a bicycle tax of 1,000 Francs per bicycle. They confiscated the bike of the nurse who came from Monbago to pick up medicines. Health center bikes were exempt from the tax, so I went to see the chief and the policeman. They refused to release the bicycle, so I got into an argument with them. "You are against the missionaries, so I am going to close the health center and file a report with the administrator," I warned them. They still refused to release the bike, so I sent a report to the administrator in Kiri.

The day after Christmas, I had another altercation with the chief of police. He came to see the deacon. I yelled at him for not obeying the administrator and not returning the bicycles. Then, he became angry. "The administrator cannot do anything against me!" he shouted.

I replied, "I will tell that to the administrator when I go to Kiri tomorrow." At 4:00 p.m., the deacon had come to see me and was very upset. The police chief came to his house with a revolver and told him he would kill him if he collaborated with the missionaries. I replied to the deacon that he had to accompany me to Kiri and report this to the administrator.

Several days later, on the way to Kiri, the deacon relayed to me, "The police chief returned to my house last night with a revolver. He put the barrel to my head and said that he would not get arrested even if he killed me. He said he would just get reassigned to another territory."

We arrived in Kiri and went straight to the administrator's office and gave him a report. The administrator promised to notify the police headquarters in Inongo. I told him the chief should be arrested and hauled off to prison in handcuffs. If a civilian had done this, they would already be in jail.