The white man has built a court house, where a district commissioner imposes white law. The DC is served by a gang of kotma, African court messengers who come from far away. They are greatly hated because they are arrogant and brutal. There is a prison as well, and even men of title are being put there. The white man says that Igbo laws are foolish, and they impose their own law on the Igbo. Obierika puts it succinctly: "The white man is very clever. He came quietly and peaceably with his religion. We were amused at his foolishness and allowed him to stay. Now he has won our brothers, and our clan can no longer act like one. He has put a knife on the things that held us together and we have fallen apart."