MWALIMU ANDREW: Why I rejected Bensouda's offer for 50/50 business partnership

When on one great Friday afternoon in January  news reached us that the President had “beaten transfer” Dr Fred Matiang’i from the Education ministry, teachers across the country were elated. In fact, that evening, Hitler’s was teeming with teachers – both secondary and primary – celebrating his exit.

“It’s going to be such a great relief,” said Sucrose, who teaches at Mwisho wa Lami Secondary and who says he is a victim of Matiang’i.

“I used to get some money for every B+ and above scored in my subject in the KCSE exams,” he said. “With Matiang’i, getting even a C is a miracle! Wacha aende.”

Equally happy was Saphire. “Let’s see if Matiang’i will make impromptu visits to police stations. Asipochunga watamuweka cell,” he said.

We believed that some of the punitive and draconian reforms Matiang’i had implemented would be done away with as soon as he left. Indeed, one of the issues we were grappling with was the requirement that whenever a teacher steps out of school – even for a few minutes - they must write a letter notifying the HM. Although this was always a requirement, it was never executed until Matiang’i happened. Now if I have to walk to Mwisho wa Lami market to buy an airtime voucher, I have to write a letter to the HM informing her of the same. Trouble is that Madam Bensouda is never in school to receive such letters.

As such, I receive these letters. But I have been filing Kuya’s; and once they get to ten, I will submit them to the County Director of Education. He is now on the ninth, one more to go. TSC must have proper knowledge of the man who thinks he can be deputy. How can you be deputy when you are out of school most of the time?

It’s quite unfortunate that this colonial Matiang’i rule of writing letters before leaving school are continuing under Madam Amina Mohamed. Equally, late last year, we had been asked to register all students in a government website. We had asked the students to come with their birth certificates, and some details about their parents.

When Matiang’i left, we were very sure it would not be necessary, as it was just a Matiang’i requirement. But we were shocked when, two weeks ago, Bensouda announced that it had to be done.

“Every class teacher must ensure all the students are correctly registered on NEMIS,” she announced. “Once you submit, I will then log in to submit for the school.”

“What is NEMIS?” Asked Saphire, who was miraculously in school.

“I don’t know,” said the HM. “But that is where we are supposed to go and key in the details.” I quickly Googled – I am the only teacher here who knows what Google is – and told them that NEMIS refers to National Education Management Information Systems. Teachers complained that they did not have laptops or Internet but Bensouda would hear none of it. “I want it done, all schools across the county are doing it,” she said. “Who are we not to do it?” Bensouda brought a teacher from another school to teach us how to do it, but only yours truly made a good effort to understand how it works.

Being creative and innovative, I saw a business opportunity. I knew even teachers in other school were suffering, especially given that there are not so many computers in this area. I called my brother who shocked me by showing me how I could use my phone to supply Internet to my laptop.

With that sorted, I dispatched a message to a WhatsApp group with many teachers. “Are you struggling with registering your students on NEMIS? Look no further, contact me for assistance. Sh7 per student.” I thought I would get just a few teachers seeking help, but when I woke up last Saturday, I had received many responses.

I asked the interested teachers to see me in school on Monday. By 9am, several teachers had aready arrived in school carrying filled in forms.

“I have verified all this information but I don’t know how to download it for Amina to read,” Chondo, a teacher at a nearby school told me when he arrived. I spent time with him and helped him submit the details of his 44 students. That was Sh308 in, and that was before tea break. “I will bring the rest once I have the details.”

I did not even go for tea break as more teachers who needed my help had arrived. As other teachers took tea in the staffroom, in the adjacent room, my office, I was making money. By the end of Monday, I had about Sh800. You need no calculator to know that I visited Hitler’s that day, and left very very late.

One of the teachers had wanted me to show him how to do it, but keen not to kill my source of money, I did not. Come Tuesday morning, and there were more teachers in our school seeking my assistance. I did not step in class that day, and I finished the day with Sh1,100 in the pocket.

But things went wrong on Wednesday. On this day, there were more teachers who had come, having heard about my proficiency and speed. Given that I was receiving good money, I was able to buy them tea and mandazi as they waited.

So at 11am, when Bensouda arrived, the staffroom was full of strangers.

“Who are these?” She asked.

“Teachers!” One cheeky one replied. This did not go down with Bensouda. I explained to her what was happening when she came to my office.

“This is class time you are wasting!” She said. “Who is teaching on your behalf?”  I told her I had given out assignments.

“Get out of my school,” she ordered all the teachers who were in the staffroom.  I apologised to everyone on the WhatsApp group and promised to advise them on where and what time to meet. Without electricity in my place, I talked to Tito, the owner of Busy Bee Academy, who allowed me to use one of this rooms. I planned to leave early so that I could go help them.

Just before I left school at around 3.30pm, Bensouda called me to her office.

“I hear only you can do this thing in this region.” She said to me. “I have a call from two headmistresses and they are willing to pay.” She went on: “Can we do a partnership, I allow you to continue using the school’s time and resources; and we share what we get 50:50?”

I politely declined. I would rather make little in the evenings than make more and share with Bensouda when her role would just be receiving money. Since then, things have been elephant between Bensouda and I! But I am not worried, we will soon be friends!

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