When things are thick, so goes a Swahili saying, a log will serve as a canoe to cross a dangerous river. But once the master is safe from the treacherous crocodiles, he will happily split the log and turn it into firewood.
This appears to have been the case in Kenya’s education system where the membership of the oldest and biggest trade union has been systematically split and the splinters used to fuel the fire that is set to extinguish the used teachers’ mouthpiece.