FATHERS OF NATIONS

Four strangers checked in at The Seamount Hotel in Banjul one evening.None of them knew of other three,or about being one of the four.And this would remain the case because, unknowingly,the hotel assigned them to different rooms on different floors in different wing. First to check in,was a man,aged about sixty years.His hairline had retreated all the way back to his crown,but there it had held:no more hair loss.He had a strange habit of smacking as he talked,appearing to shape each word first and to add voice to it only after. Arrival formalities required him to complete and sign a registration card at the hotel's front desk.He signed it as Karanja Kimani, professor in the institute of Development studies at the University of Nairobi,Kenya.The hotel gave him a room on the fourth floor of it's East Wing Next to sign in,was another man,aged about seventy.He had a bushy mustache,which,ina a moments of speech,wriggled over his mouth like a moth fighting to free its wing then fly away.The man registered as Ngobile Melusi comrade and citizen of Zimbabwe.In the blank his card had for his accupation,he definitely wrote"Not Applicable".The hotel allocated him a room on the fifth floor of the South Wing. A young man,aged about fifty,also checked in Big and flabby,he looked a failed sumo wrestler.However,this feature was not evident now.He buried it under loose robes,topped with one of those con-like caps always flop to the left side,by design,not flaw.There was something about his eyes.They narrowed into slits when he relaxed,narrowed further when he smiled,and vanished altogether when he laughed.He registered as Chineke Chiamaka,Pastor at the Church inside Africa,`CIA`,in Lagos,Nigeria.He took a room on the sixth floor of the West Wing. Last to check in,was yet another man,forty-plus years old.His walk seemed to be motion powers by rebellion.Was it a gesture of protest against someone or something?.He checked in as Seif Tahir, Engineer,formerly employed by the Ministry of Defense in Tripoli,Libya.He got a room on the third floor of the North Wing ***