I was very upset last Tuesday afternoon. It all started when I went to school late in the afternoon. In the morning, I was at the County TSC offices in Kakamega to talk to someone whom I was told could push for my confirmation as Headmaster of the great Mwisho wa Lami Primary School.
It turned out it was just another person who wanted money, without any guarantees that he could influence anything. I have studied hard and worked so hard as a deputy and acting HM to start bribing someone for a position I am overqualified for.
Dejected, I left. I had informed Alex, the acting HM, that I would be away in Kakamega, and he did not expect me to come to school in the afternoon.
In my early days, whenever I went to Kakamega, I would be back just in time to enjoy the sumptuous lunch we had then. Not anymore.
First, the good lunch no longer exists and second, I realised that it is never that serious. So, after transacting my business, I usually take some time at Teachers’ Tavern in Kakamega to bond with other teachers.
No teacher at Mwisho wa Lami expected me back. I arrived incognito at about 2.13 pm. The staffroom was uncharacteristically quiet. There was only Madam Ruth, Anita and Lena, her bad hair in tow. Since the classes were fairly quiet, I assumed teachers were in class. I called Nzomo because I needed to confirm something with her but all calls went unanswered.
Then I called Alex. No answer. I decided to walk around the classes. All classes had no teachers, I wondered where they were. When I returned to the office, I found a missed call from Nzomo. I called back.
“In a noisy bus, let me call you when I get to Nairobi,” she texted back. She called me 30 minutes later.
“What are you doing in Nairobi? Isn’t tomorrow a working day, ” I asked.
“In the staff meeting, Alex said that we could use the three days to do our own stuff, so I am on my way to Nunguni to check on my family. I will be back in school on Monday.”
“Dre, you surely must be aware there will be Maandamano from tomorrow till Friday. Instead of wasting time in school – where nothing will happen, I decided to take this time to sort out a few personal issues back home.”
“But you know protests never reach Mwisho wa Lami, our school programme will proceed uninterrupted,” I said.
“Dre, you need to put your ears on the ground, this time it is bad, very bad. In fact, I hear that the government may be overthrown,” she said. I trembled on hearing that. What if NSIS were listening to our call?
“There is nothing like that Nzomo, tomorrow is an official working day, there is no holiday that has been gazetted. I expect you to be in school tomorrow.”
An hour later, Alex called me. He said he was in Eldoret. “I came to visit my family and will be back on Sunday in preparation for Monday.”
“What do you mean Alex, isn’t tomorrow a working day?”
“Yes HM, but we all live in this county. Nothing will happen in schools and offices, that is why I decided to take time away with family.”
“And with whose permission?” I asked, reminding him that as acting HM, he needed to operate at a slightly higher level.
“I was going to call you and ask, but luckily, you called first.”
“This is unacceptable Alex,” I said. “You are now a leader and need to behave like one. And you went ahead and allowed other teachers to leave?”
“No, I did not,” he vehemently denied. I told him of Nzomo.
“That one, forget about her,” he started. “She came to me crying that her parents were unwell, and I allowed her to travel. Which is okay because had she been here, she would not have come to school anyway. And if she had come, she would have done nothing really.”
Come Wednesday, I went to school at around 9.00 am. There were very few pupils and only three teachers: Madam Ruth, Anita, and Sella. I decided to check where everyone else was.
Lena told me she was not feeling well, but Kuya said that he could not ride a bike that long to school as he feared for his life. “I know the people of Mwisho wa Lami Village hate me, and I fear they may take advantage of the protests to attack me,” he said. Mrs Atika did not respond to calls or texts.
Although I am also reeling from the effects of hyperinflation as evidenced by the rapid and ever rising cost of food, I was not going to allow teachers to either protest, or not to work during an official working day. So, tomorrow, I will institute disciplinary measures against Nzomo, Lena, Mrs Atika and Kuya for absconding duty. For Alex, not only will he get a warning letter, but I also plan to drop him as an acting deputy as part of my promise to rotate acting deputies.
