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Hard times hit Meta Meta after Ruto’s order on fees

Counties

School certs

“Chuo imesota,”(the school has no money) I overheard a member of the support staff commenting. Indeed, those are the words on every tongue - from soldier at the gate to Jezebel in the kitchen. So serious is the financial crisis that Okonkwo has dumped his Safaricom line for a Yu line which only a few members of his kitchen cabinet know.

Traditionally, third term is a lean term for Meta Meta.  Matters have however, been complicated by the recent decree by the Jubilee ruling duo. The executive order that schools release KCSE certificates for all former students in spite of money owed is haunting Okonkwo and many other school principals.

Nightmares

The current students are not keen on paying fees as they are looking forward to taking full advantage of the decree next year and beyond. After all, why pay when principals have been ordered to close their eyes to fee balances or face early retirement?

Many parents of Meta Meta are said to be singing themselves hoarse in pubs and declaring Uhuru and Ruto president and deputy president for life.

Meanwhile, principals like Okonkwo are having nightmares figuring out how to run schools while avoiding dormitory fires. The fear of auctioneers is real and some principals have since acquired grey hair. Cases of high blood pressure are on the rise.

Okonkwo is so suspicious of any stranger that he has instructed soldier not to allow anybody who looks like a creditor or their agent onto the compound.

Tighten belts

His secretary has also been thoroughly screening visitors before allowing them into his office. The standard excuse has been that the principal is held up in a meeting or is at the TSC looking for a French teacher.

This crisis saw Okonkwo call an urgent staff briefing on Thursday, last week. “Colleagues,” he began without preamble. “The prevailing financial situation calls upon us all to tighten our belts. Accordingly, we are rationalising expenditure to match our financial resources.

We are going to discontinue staff room newspapers and whoever wants to read the newspapers will have to go to the library. Tea will only be served once during the long morning break...” At this point, I heard Magarita gasp loudly.

Magarita hails from a clan famous for its love for tea. She had been carrying her home made brew in a pink flask until recently, when Okokonwo promised her ‘good tea’ from the school kitchen. This was in a bid to isolate Aeneas and cripple his referendum campaign. “Your lunch will also be affected and you may not get a fruit with the students as before,” declared Okonkwo while surveying the Meta Meta staff.

“The school is only going to spend money on priority areas and all HODs should hand in a list of their departments’ requirements to the bursar immediately to allow for budgeting.” With that the senior principal walked out. Depa followed closely.

No sooner had Okonkwo left the staffroom than the protests began.

“How could he spend all the money on the heads conference in Mombasa and have the cheek to tell us that there are no funds.” Donatta, who hasn’t forgiven Okonkwo for deleting her name from the list of KCSE invigilators, wondered.

“And how much did the school spend on music festivals in Mombasa last term?  Yet they funded joy riders who know nothing about music and accommodated them in five-star hotels,” complained Schola. She was dropped from the team accompanying the choral verse competitors to Mombasa at the last minute so that Depa could accompany them, ostensibly to maintain discipline.

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