Wangu wa Makeri runs Meta Meta with iron fist in Okonkwo's absence

Last week, Okonkwo, Meta Meta’s senior principal was in Mombasa attending the annual heads conference.

Okonkwo never misses the secondary school’s heads conference. This time, he left quite early, on Friday three days before the start of the conference.

During break time that Friday he had convened a brief staff meeting to announce his departure and hand over the instruments of office – office keys- to his deputy.

He claimed that he needed to be in Mombasa early enough to get secure accommodation in the wake of terror threats. The same security concerns saw him travel by air from Nairobi. “Travelling by road when a terror threat has been issued is risky” he had argued. Schola claims that he hardly attends the conference sessions but spends most of his time on the beach - in shorts.

Wangu wa Makeri who has been lying low since the incident with Cate addressed last Monday’s morning assembly. Dressed in a new skirt suit and a sparkling maroon top, she informed us that the principal’s absence for the week did not mean there was a vacuum.

All issues relating to the principal’s office and mine should be brought to my attention, “she announced.

According to Schola, Okonkwo had planned to appoint Annette acting deputy principal for the week and had even drafted a letter appointing her. It had been copied to the BOG chairman and the TSC. He withdrew it on sensing wa Makeri’s opposition to the idea. Okonkwo has a soft spot for Annette and is grooming her to succeed him.

For the entire week, wa Makeri operated from the principal’s office. She was also parking her pimped up Subaru in the principal’s reserved parking slot. Such a thing hasn’t happened for many years at Meta Meta. Okonkwo’s parking slot remains vacant even during holidays. I witnessed some colleagues secretly taking photos of the Subaru. The photos may come in handy later.

On Tuesday, she was the first in the staffroom for the traditional Tuesday break time briefs. She wasn’t amused to find no chair reserved for her. Annette, the staffroom prefect made no effort to get her one as she appeared busy with her class register.

Sossion and Atwoli

An undaunted wa Makeri addressed us while on her feet.

“Colleagues, I would like to make some observations,” she paused to get our attention. “Our response to lesson bells is quite wanting. Some of you go to class as late as five minutes. That is totally unacceptable. You must make effective use of the 40 minutes lesson time.

I have given the class prefects forms to indicate the time a teacher enters the class and leaves. They will also fill in details on whether the lesson was well handled or not. Any departmental meeting must be held strictly within the lunch hour or after four.

The school subsidises your lunch and as such there is no reason for one to go out of the compound during lunch break,” she declared to open-mouthed colleagues.

“I wish to inform you that the lunch hour is a workers right protected by the ILO. That hour remains sacred unless you want us to take the matter to Sossion or Atwoli,” hissed Aeneas.

“I have just made my observations and from where I sit colleagues, I must confess that some of us are not ready to earn their pay. You either shape up or ship out,” she declared as she left the staffroom.

Okonkwo’s one week absence and wa Makeri’s reign has seen many members look forward to his return. Some colleagues who hardly talk to him even sent him text messages wishing him a safe flight on his return journey.

socratesmwalimu@gmail.com