How I mustered my forces to repulse Kuya’s coup attempt

As some of you may already know, other than Sella, I have not been on good terms with the female teachers in our school.

The reasons have been varied. As for Mrs Atika, she has never forgiven me for having assigned her morning and evening lessons the last time I drew up the timetable; Madam Ruth always thinks of herself my senior, yet the last class she attended was at Kericho TTC.

Since the grand arrival of Sella, things have never been the same between me and Nzomo; and they will continue being so as long as Sella is around. As for Lena and her bad hair, the less said about how we relate, the better.

However, when it came to my fight to repulse Kuya from his attempted coup d’état at my office, I needed the support of the “female lady” teachers. In his short time as deputy, Kuya had antagonised most of the ladies to impress Bensouda.

Whenever an opportunity arose, I reminded them that they were better off under me than under him.

Furthermore, he had drawn a timetable that completely disregarded the preferred times for lady teachers. On this I offered to exchange classes with them and that endeared them to me.

On Saturday, I sent them an SMS telling them we would review the timetable on Monday.

I also enrolled the services of the who-is-who in Mwisho wa Lami. As you know I am the most senior teacher here who hails from Mwisho wa Lami village.

Bensouda and Kuya are outsiders. So at Hitler’s the last few weeks, I have been telling everyone who cared to listen that our people are targeted.

As a result, Kuya has been given the cold shoulder. Last Sunday, I bought a few pick-ups for Nyayo who, once he was dunk, walked past Kuya’s house telling him that the seat of the deputy belonged to a son of Mwisho wa Lami.

Rasto, the school PTA chairman, also warned Bensouda that they would not support her if she mistreated locals.

I did not forget the students too. On the day I returned into my office, I released them early, on a day Kuya would have insisted they stay behind to do cleaning. I also ensured that on that Friday, I remained with the keys to my office.

With all these people on my side, the stage was set for a confrontation with Kuya and Bensouda. On Sunday, I went to school to place a few notices on the school board.

Come Monday, I did not go to school early. Since I knew I had the keys to my office, I planned to get to school after Kuya was in. I arrived just before parade. Kuya was already in school, and he had just finished supervising the students during clean up even though he was not the Deputy HM.

In his address to the students, he told them how unhappy he was over their lateness that morning, and announced that the latecomers would stay back for punishment as others go home for lunch. Since Bensouda was not in and Kuya considered himself the senior most teacher, he dismissed the parade.

I, however, stepped forward to speak to them before they could leave.

“Good morning pupils!” I greeted them loudly.

“Good morning Mr Andrew and how do you do?” they thundered back.

“I do very well,” I answered back. I then made a few routine announcements before adding that I had forgiven all those who had come late that day.

“You will go for lunch to eat so that you can wake up early tomorrow,” I told them amid applause. I then dismissed them. I delayed going to the staffroom and moved around school. When I went back, I found Kuya sitting on one of the tables asking teachers why they had not gone to class.

“We need to have this timetable reviewed,” I heard Mrs Atika tell him. “I can’t have all my classes in the morning.”

Madam Ruth also complained of having back to back classes.

“If pupils are in class the whole day, I don’t see why you are complaining about six lessons in a day,” he said,

“Morning everyone,” I greeted them as I walked in.

“Good morning Mr Deputy,” a few voices greeted me back, to the chagrin of Kuya.

“Dre,” said Kuya. “Even if you want to be deputy, you don’t have to be good to everyone, you will spoil this school.”

“Who said I want to be deputy?” I asked him. “I am already deputy. It is you who needs to know that you will not be promoted just because you are harsh.”

Mrs Atika and Madam Ruth supported me on this.

“Sella,” I called out. “Can you prepare a fresh school timetable,” I told her. “The current one has so many issues.”

The few teachers who had arrived supported the idea.

“Mr Deputy,” said Sella, “I propose we use last term’s timetable which most of us agreed to.”  There was agreement on this and I directed that last term’s timetable be used with minor amendments.

Bensouda arrived a few minutes later, and Kuya, who had not settled on any seat, went to her office, where they sat for a long time. They were later joined by Rasto, the PTA chairman and a supporter of mine.

BIG ANNOUNCEMENT

Bensouda later called a staff meeting that afternoon. In the meeting she announced that I will continue to be the deputy of the school, amidst cheers from the teachers present.

“Kuya was only stepping in to fill a gap that had been created by Dre, but I am happy to see Dre is now pulling his weight,” she added.

News that I had been reinstated as the deputy spread like bush fire and teachers, pupils as well as the local community received them with happiness.

After the meeting, Kuya requested to move his stuff from my office and I let him. He then placed them on his desk and left school in a hurry.

That evening, as I walked to Hitler’s, I was received with a great applause.

“Welcome back Nkurunzinza,” said Saphire, who had not been in school. “It is good to see you back in power.”

“Kweli wewe ni Nkurunzinza,” added Kizito.

“Nkurunzinza ni nani?” asked Nyayo. Saphire explained to him.

Like the people for Burundi are happy to have Nkurunzinza back, we are also happy to see Dre back in power!”

Everyone congratulated me, telling me what role they played to ensure I got back my position, but I clearly knew they wanted me to buy them something small.

“Na huyu Kuya hatumtaki hii shule tena,” said Nyayo. Everyone supported this. We left Hitler’s very late and I received an SMS from Kuya. It read: “Don’t celebrate too early. This is far from over. I will soon be the deputy. Mayweather Kuya.” He has not been to school since then.

I had never known that his first name was Mayweather. But that SMS did not shake me. What mattered to me was that I had gotten back my position!