Don’t believe him: did he lie intentionally?

I had just returned from a trip out of Yaoundé. Over a period of 3 days, I drove a distance of circa 500 km to and from the South West Region where a beach treat in Limbe and discovering the new Chariot Hotel in Buea were on the menu. I was in the car with my friend Manuel.

Just as I made a left towards the Central Post office roundabout, I was pulled over by two police officers. From the excited manner in which they pulled me over, I was SO SURE I had committed a serious traffic misdemeanor. Law abiding citizen that I was, I pulled over. The first officer introduced himself, and requested the usual: car and personal identification documents. I handed these over and sat back, eager to discover my latest traffic offense.

While checking, he asked for the driver’s license. I told him everything was in the pack. He said sorry, the license was not in it. I searched in the pigeon hole, handbag, under the chairs, now I was so sure they won’t be easy on me! I explained to the officer that perhaps I forgot it at home since the car was with the mechanic for repairs a couple of days ago and I had taken out the license before handing over the car to him.
Then he asked me if I knew the real reason why I was pulled over. I said I didn’t.

Hmm, I couldn’t wait to hear him happily tell me the felony. He told me that I had made a forbidden turn, given where I was coming from. He went on to explain to me that coming down towards the Central Post Office area from the former Presidency, it is forbidden to turn left. I politely told him I wasn’t aware of that. I asked if there were sign posts indicating this and he said yes. He asked one of the junior officers to show me. I walked with the junior officer to the area where the sign post was, and yes, they were absolutely right.

I tried to explain that I didn’t see it, and he said well, the penalty for not being vigilant while driving is impounding of the car. And added to that, I didn’t have my driver’s license on me. When your car is impounded, you get to pay 25.000 CFA to get it back. The senior officer asked the junior officer to go with me to the council impoundment unit. I almost laughed out loud when the junior officer asked if I am the one to drive or he will drive??? I wondered if they really think I can see fire and drive right into it: it’s time to negotiate, I thought. I let Manuel be my mouthpiece.


Manuel walked to the side of the road with the officers and succeeded in talking them to give back the document pack. He handed over the documents to me and said I should go home and look for the driver’s license and he will try to “talk” with the policemen. As easy as ABC, I was free to go.

I went home and set about searching everywhere for my license, trying so hard to recall where it could be. I searched in all my handbags, document storage areas and I even called my cousin in whose house I was using the license to fan myself a couple of weeks back. While searching, I kept on using the switch word “reach”. Switch words are words you use repeatedly with faith to attain a given outcome. They inform the subconscious mind about an intended outcome and the subconscious mind processes the information it receives, thereby rearranging the Universe for you to experience that desired outcome. The word to use when finding something is either “reach” or “find”.

After searching every possible area and realizing my search may be in vain, I called my friend Manuel to find out the outcome of his discussion with the policemen. He said he offered them a treat in a nearby open air eating spot, what is popularly called in French "tourne-dos", thereby spending close to 5.000CFA. At this point in my search, a little voice said, “Check the entire car document pack,”. You wouldn’t believe what I saw. My driver’s license!

I called Manuel and told him this new development. You can now ask yourself the same question I asked in the title above. Was I just afraid of the policeman that I absolutely believed what he told me? (that the license was NOT in the documents I handed over to him?) I felt like a fool but I learnt a couple of things:

- It is ok to question what you are told, always take a moment to verify.
- Believe in your intuition, when you pay attention it hardly fails you.
- When you are visibly wrong, it is quite challenging convincing the policeman that to err is human.