Part XVI: Big cash politics

As we waited for the decision on who was going to be the Kirk head of house Victor Wangai and I reflected on just how wrong our grand plan had gone. Our studies in Kirk house faced each other and we talked a lot. He was in the study that had been occupied by Nesbit Wesonga the previous year.

Actually late in 1982 when we both knew that there was a good chance (25% at the very least because there were 4 school prefects announced) of me being HOS, Wangai had decided to go for the Sixth Form Society chairman’s post. At the time it looked like a piece of cake and Victor was very excited about the idea of Kirk dominating things at the top. We would then have a head of house from Kirk and that would bring the tally to 3 powerful Kirk guys up school.

Chairman of sixth form society in those days was NOT a small man. For starters he shared in the triangles in tower at tea break with the school prefects and the headmaster frequently looked to him for advice on various issues involving sixth formers. That was apart from all the high profile social functions he was in charge of including the sixth formers day where the school would be flooded by tons of mostly giggling school girls and all kinds of crazy things would happen.

Now this is where the politics got really ugly because unlike school prefects who were appointed, this was an elective post. Sixth formers needed to be swayed to vote for you. Victor planned his campaign and on paper he was definitely going to win hands down. But his opponent had other ideas. His opponent who seemed to be a minnow at the time was one Kiprono Kittony.

I had known Kiprono Kittony since our primary school days at Lavington primary school. In 1982 he had hosted members of the 1st XV in the expansive family farm in Kitale when we went there to play West Kenya XV. He had even driven me around town in the family Volvo. Victor and I were puzzled because his campaign seemed to be so low key. Was he really serious about wanting to win, we wondered. It looked so obvious that we were going to win. On election day Kiprono shocked us by comfortably winning the election. We were very puzzled until some fascinating stories starting coming in. Apparently shortly before election day Kiprono had hosted quite a number of very influential sixth formers for an all-expenses paid plus pocket money night out at the Carnivore, Nairobi. Now in those days a night out at Cani, as we used to call it was just it. And if you wanted to convince a sixth former to do virtually anything for you, that was just the place to take them. He had outsmarted us, albeit with the kind of campaign funds we could never match and so he became sixth form society chairman 1983.

In the end Kiprono’s ascension to sixth form society chairman proved to be a blessing in disguise for me. We consulted frequently and he would sometimes tell me what sixth formers in block 1 and block 4 were saying which proved to be extremely useful especially when the things got really ugly for me (as I will describe shortly).

The headmaster announced Victor Wangai as head of house Kirk and Pekos was livid. For the rest of first term he was hardly ever seen in Kirk house and opted to send messages instead. Even the weekly pocket money which had always been disbursed by the house master was sent with different messengers giving out the cash. I tried to stay out of his way as much as possible and in his Geography classes I moved several rows away from the front.

To naïve observers who were not interested at looking at the saga more deeply this was confirmation as to how powerful the head of school really was. But more significantly the repercussions of this incident spread far and wide. A small clique of house masters closed ranks against school prefects and “the power” the headmaster was giving to the boys. Apparently Pekos was very influential and very easily able to incite people. This development was going to come back to haunt school prefects shortly.

Personally, Victor’s appointment made a huge difference for me. I now felt much more confident and secure knowing that whatever happened, I had someone watching my back. He even proved to be a great school prefect so much so that we even ended up having a discussion with the headmaster once that was inspired by Victor’s capabilities where he said that it was unfortunate that the school frequently overlooked very capable leaders in appointing school prefects and wondered what could be done to improve the system for identifying students with leadership capabilities.

I had only been HOS for slightly more than a week and yet so much had happened already. What I did not know was that there was much more to come. I was going to remain pretty much in the boiler room for the whole of first term 1983.

On the surface of things the other school prefects gave me the support I needed to be HOS but deep down I knew that the Lugard incident was not forgotten. I also knew that a section of the school prefects were of the view that had the Lugard incident not happened things would have been very different and I would never have made it to HOS. From what I discovered later nothing could have been further from the truth. But then in politics the truth hardly matters and is mostly irrelevant. It can never overshadow perception which is everything.

Part XV: My first big mistake

In all my years in Lenana I had never seen the inside of the head of school’s office. Not even when I was a school prefect in fifth form. It was situated right next to the school pres' comm (tower) with big letters above the door; Head of school.

Once or twice the previous year I had seen Alai (HOS ’82) step into his office but he always quickly shut the door behind him. A few hours after my appointment was announced I took a good look at it for the first time and I have to say I was very disappointed. Maybe my expectations had been way too high. All that was in the clean sizeable room was a creaking old swivel chair (that probably dated back to 1949) and a small desk. Even my room/study back in Kirk house was much better furnished. I had been told that a few of my predecessors had furnished the head of school’s office at their own expense. I wasn’t going to do that, besides I had no such funds.

I sat down on the head of school’s humble chair to collect my thoughts. I had always imagined that when and if I ever sat on this chair the feeling that would rule would be that of triumph. But today I felt nothing of the sort. I was worried and almost feeling overwhelmed by the office already and the responsibilities I imagined came with it. The biggest worry on my mind was the Lugard incident (described earlier) that had happened in late 1982. Something told me that there would be repercussions from it.

Looking back now I should have grabbed that moment to do some serious thinking and planning ahead. George Mwangi head of Thomson and senior school prefect in 1982 had kept telling us that a school prefect in Lenana was as powerful as they decided they wanted to be. I had not grasped the full meaning of his words although I thought I did. What he meant was that you were as powerful as you allowed your intellect to make you. Leadership is not a joke and even if you are the leader (chairman) of a cattle dip in a remote village in the middle of nowhere it is not a joke. This is because you are dealing with people and people will always be people. Intellect is key in dealing with people and the treachery that is human nature everywhere.

And so rather than dwelling on my feelings and fears I should have started engaging my intellect pronto and right away. I didn’t and predictably I walked right into a trap and my first serious mistake which should have been avoidable.

Traditionally (at least in my days) it was the prerogative of the head of school to decide whether he needed a head of house or not. All heads of school since 1978 had exercised that option except Andy Mwenesi in 1980 and Mwangi Gitau in 1981 (both from Mumia house). I am sure that they had their own good reasons however my thinking was that with all the looming thunderstorms I could sense I needed somebody to focus on being head of house. Besides I was involved in quite a number of extremely time consuming activities apart from rugby and soccer, like the school play for instance. In fifth form I directed a play written by my close Kirk friend Alfred Odindo (who had left in 1980) and in sixth form I wrote and directed an original script; “Stop the train I want to get off.”

It was a no brainer that there was no way I was going to manage without a good head of house in Kirk. Besides there were numerous administrative things and small details a head of house had to take care of in those days and so if I took up both responsibilities there would even be less time left for my books which were supposed to take priority over everything else.

I love Mario Puzo’s "Godfather" the book and the movies because they teach a lot about life and leadership. In the movie version there is a scene where Don Corleone heading several powerful mafia families is being dangerously circled by his enemies and during a meeting with a particularly deadly one to discuss the Don’s help with the police and judges in the illegal drugs business his eldest son Sonny opens his mouth to air his personal views. The Don is furious and later in private screams at him; “never ever again let people know what you are thinking.” An extremely valuable tip for any leader. When people know what you are thinking before you have fully implemented your idea or put your plan in motion there are many ways they can trip you up and your plan as well. Also when you talk too much about what’s on your mind people can second guess you every time and bring about all kinds of chaos to your leadership.

Back to my situation. In my view I felt that it was only natural that the then deputy head of house Victor Wangai (RIP) be elevated to head of house. I discussed the issue with the appointing authority and he informed me that he would make a decision soon. But I then went and opened my big mouth and blubbered out my intentions to all and sundry. Word reached the Kirk house master Odhiambo Pekos. Until then we had had a very tight great relationship. You will remember from earlier chapters that we had worked closely together to bring the Starehe cup back to Lenana in '82 and besides he was my Geography teacher for whom I had great respect.

He called me one day after a meal in the block 2 dining hall and told me that I was making a big mistake. He explained that his candidate for head of house was much more qualified. I believe he used the word “qualified.”

Admittedly Victor Wangai had been a very close friend for years. He had even invited me to his garden estate home on several Sunday outings. But that was beside the point here and I don’t think my judgement was clouded in any way. He had already been appointed deputy head of house. Why muddy the waters by introducing another candidate above him which would even involve the embarrassment of him changing studies with the said candidate? Besides Victor was an extremely efficient guy who had done and continued to do a lot for the house and was in my view best qualified even if we ignored the fact that he was already deputy head of house.

I think the pressures of being HOS were beginning to weigh down on me because instead of just keeping quiet or pretending to agree with him I started loudly giving him the reasons why he was wrong. Now Pekos was an extremely emotional person and as I was to discover later he had had a run in with Victor and was determined to use this opportunity to put him down by getting somebody else appointed head of house of Kirk above him.

I believe there were several eyewitnesses who heard the ugly argument that went on inside the Block 2 dining hall and Pekos knew that. And so what would have been a small issue became very public with onlookers waiting to see whose appointee would make it. That would clearly answer the argument (as I heard somebody in Kirk put it) of who was more powerful; the head of school or the Kirk house master. It was a very unfair and silly argument because the two offices were very different with different responsibilities and expectations. It is like asking who is more powerful a county governor or a DC? But even worse the whole drama messed up my relationship with Peko's candidate because naturally he felt that I had something against him.

In any case the decision came a few days later and complicated my situation further giving me even more pressure when I least needed it.

Part XIV: Tradition and more politics

Lord, dismiss us with Thy blessing,

Thanks for mercies past receive;
Pardon all, their faults confessing;
Time that’s lost may all retrieve;
May Thy children
Ne’er again Thy Spirit grieve.

Let Thy father-hand be shielding
All who here shall meet no more;
May their seed-time past be yielding
Year by year a richer store;
Those returning,
Make more faithful than before.

The hymn sang often meant different things to different people at the end of the year. Rabbles celebrated the end of a gruelling year while looking forward to the holidays like never before. Fourth formers celebrated the uncertainty of their future and sixth formers celebrated the end of their school days arguably the happiest days of one’s entire life. We fifth form school prefects celebrated the uncertainty of what the new year (1983) would bring under our brand new leadership.

1982 was brought to a close in the same fashion other school years had been concluded since the school was founded in 1949. The hymn “Lord dismiss us with thy blessing” ended the last chapel service of the year and the headmaster Ndau Kanyi and school chaplain Norman Dodman symbolically led the school prefects out of the chapel bidding them farewell as they were released out into the world. There were two processions of school prefects on the two aisles in the school chapel. On the right side of the chapel Head of school John Alai followed by a handful of prefects and on the other side of the chapel was Spike Ogot deputy head of school followed by another group of prefects. Perfect order, military precision.

It had been a great year with many achievements including both the Prescott schools rugby cup and the Starehe founders day cup both of which I played a role in. Both had not been to Lenana for decades. Just goes to confirm that when you have your leadership right, achievements and new heights will inevitably follow. And here I am talking about the leadership of the school prefects of 1982, because everything starts with discipline. Great capable guys they were and bound to be remembered for many years to come.

The four of us 5th form school prefects seated at the back of the chapel had the perfect view of this traditional ceremony for the first time since we joined the school 5 years earlier. Theoretically we were now in charge.

There was no handing over ceremony, no briefing or tips to help us meet the challenges of the coming year. We were very much on our own and we would just have to make the best of it just like our many predecessors had. Hopefully the last 5 or so very eventful weeks had given us enough preparation. In any case we would find out soon enough.

The school holidays passed swiftly and we were back in the school dining hall for the first supper of the year 1983. Traditionally the head of house for the following year was announced during house suppers at the end of the previous year. In Block 2 there had been no such announcements in 1982 since it was assumed that both Alloys Obiero (Mitchell) and myself having been named school prefects already would automatically be heads of our respective houses.

It was a strange feeling seated where only a few weeks earlier Sam Olago had sat. The table was not filled up yet since fifth formers were yet to report back. It felt even stranger walking into Sam Olago’s private study without knocking. It now belonged to me.

We shared the usual small talk folks share at the beginning of a new term mostly happy to see each other again. I retired early not entirely sure who I would be in this new school year. A senior school prefect? Deputy head of school? Or… perhaps Head of school? I had no way of knowing. Neither was I confident. There had been nothing to give me any sign that I would be HOS. I tried my best to prepare myself for any possible disappointment and to accept whatever I had coming.

The four of us entered the assembly hall at different times and took our seats at the back where school prefects always sat.

Why lie, I was extremely tense. I could only imagine what Obonyo would say in his next “political analysis” in Kadi’s art class if I missed being head of school. This time I was sure I would not find any humour in his jokes.

I looked at my 3 colleagues and something told me that one of them had already been called aside by the headmaster and given some advance knowledge that they were HOS. Naturally I would give them my full support, I told myself. I tried to look at their faces for any tell tale signs like that of a cat that had just secretly drunk some milk, but could find none.

The headmaster walked in and we all stood up as usual. I was so preoccupied with my own feelings and dread but the truth is that most of the people in that hall must have also been tense (and not just my 3 colleagues) all waiting to hear the most important announcement of the beginning of the year. All eyes were on Ndau Kanyi.

“The head of school is… and I hope that you are going to give him all the support, Kavila.”

I stood up in a daze and sat down too quickly for anybody who might not know who I was to take a good look. There was applause in the hall and most of it was coming from the rabbles. Hardly surprising because in those days word about seniors who shunned bullying usually spread fast. Still, I was not the only one popular with rabbles. At least one other colleague of mine was just as popular with juniors. He was named deputy head of school. This was of course my great friend Tony Maleche. Naturally all this would change in the coming months as we asserted our authority.

There was no time to analyse what had happened and especially the whys. My mind was focused on fully meeting my new responsibilities and not letting down the school and especially the administration which had shown much more confidence in me than I had in myself. I remember that day like it was yesterday and no thoughts about the honour that had come to Kirk crossed my mind, like they should have.

But allow me to analyse here what had happened shortly before this day based on stuff that I was to find out in the coming months and some I was even destined to know years later and long after I had left Lenana.

There had been very strong opposition to my being named head of school which mostly came from a section of the class of 1982 school prefects. One senior school prefect even booked an appointment to see the headmaster to discuss the matter and expressed his strong opposition to my possible appointment.

A few senior house masters also had strong doubts about me although some of them were backing their own horses and this probably clouded their judgement on the issue. Looking back now I have to admit that some of their reasons were justified. Prominent school prefects in the class of 1982 felt that I did not have enough confidence for the high office and they were absolutely right. The headmasters' statement just before naming me now makes plenty of sense. “I hope that you are going to give him all the support,” he had said.

But the truth is that I also had some very strong backers who felt that nobody deserved the honour more than I did. In all my years at Lenana I had shown great respect to teachers (that’s just me) and when others looked for every opportunity to put them down, I never did. It paid off big time I am sure because 2 or 3 of these teachers who had taught me were house masters.

But by far the biggest “political” issue in deciding the HOS 1983 was academics. The headmaster and a sizeable number of house masters who had been in Lenana long enough were convinced that some previous head boys and school prefects had not performed as well as they should have in their final national exams because the office went to their heads. Some school prefects had even failed miserably because their being prefects took priority over their books. I really can’t blame them because school prefects had immense powers in those days and power tends to go to the head pretty quickly. It can happen to anybody.

Now get me right. I am NOT saying I was exceptionally intelligent and I never topped any class. But neither was I exceptionally daft. I had done reasonably well in my fourth form and had consistently continued to do well most notably in third term of fifth form (which I am told was analysed carefully for all HOS candidates).

Now like most fifth formers I was NOT reading hard in 5th form. I was just lucky that English Literature was something I enjoyed immensely and it almost came naturally without too much effort on my part. Mostly because I knew even then that it would play an important role in my life later. Geography was a subject I had always liked and besides it was taught by my house master and soccer master Odhiambo Pekos. Dave Anderson (the rugby master) taught me economics and so I had no option but to pay attention and to do well in his classes. Fine art you already know the story, I was limping badly but then fine art is not the kind of subject where you need to allocate time to read and so it cannot have been relevant in deciding the HOS.

I found out all this shocking info from teachers I befriended while in Lenana and whom I could meet for a regular drink with many years after I left the school.

And the truth is this information floored me. After all the campaign and anxiety it finally came down to our performance in class and most notably our third term 5th form end of term report card. Wow!!!

The coming weeks and months were to test me to my very limits and put me through experiences that were a first in my life.

Part XIII: Hilarious political analysis in art class

Somebody had advised me to take up art as a fourth subject to increase my points tally and I went to see Kadi early in 5th form. She asked a lot of questions but finally agreed. Later I was to realize just how lucky I was because there were other prominent fifth formers who had the same idea but were firmly denied the opportunity.

We were in the same class with guys like Gerald Walker of Mitchell, Chege and Obonyo of Speke. We would frequently find ourselves in the same room with sixth formers like Ombura and Murungi of CF. Those two guys were such talented artists that they made me feel completely out of place because admittedly I was not a paintbrush guy.

The whole point of taking art was the fact that there were a number of papers in the final A-level exam that did not require too much artistic talent and besides Kadi was a prominent member of the national art examiners in those days. And so it was a sneaky way of getting an extra principal and some extra valuable points which would come in handy in the competitive rush to get into campus.

There was of course a price to pay. Kadi would drive me as hard as she drove the other guys and she had no qualms about embarrassing anybody in front of rabbles. In those tough times I have Gerald Walker from our year to thank. He was the top artist in our lot and would frequently get Kadi doing uuuuuhs and aaaaahs of delight which was extremely rare to achieve under her critical eye. Gerald would help me out when the going got ugly with Kadi and I remember one particularly difficult challenge we had been given to do an abstract painting (which incidentally was Obonyo’s specialty) that had me in serious problems.

But what I remember most about those art sessions were the “political analysis” sessions provided mainly by Obonyo and Chege. The whole thing was of course delivered with plenty of sarcastic jokes that were hilarious even when I was the butt of the jokes. We would all be working quietly in the room when Obonyo would suddenly say something like; “Kavila I see you have intensified your campaigns for head of school, the way you are campaigning somebody would think you are after Kanyi’s job… slow down Jahaa..” Naturally everybody would burst out laughing which would attract Kadi’s attention all the way at the front of the class and she would come into the room and look around suspiciously and make some remark that would cause even more laughter. Chege’s humour was quieter but just as effective and his one liners would sometimes have me in tears of laughter. Walker just laughed, that crazy infectious laugh of his that was closer to a tee hee than a real laugh. We all had a lot of fun in art class, I tell you.

But on the political battle front it was no laughing matter. Looking back now I know that all four of us wanted to be HOS and naturally we all had our different tactics. Here I can only talk about mine.

Even as naïve as I was at the time I knew that historically those who had earlier had brothers who had been school prefects started out as front runners. Two of us had and I was not one of them and so I knew that I was starting out with that big disadvantage. Apart from what I had achieved in games, which some of my colleagues had also equalled, I knew I had to come up with something extra.

Matters were made more difficult for me by the 1982 prefects who were influential enough that year to have some say. I have always had a gift of sensing things and what people are feeling towards me and I could sense that most of them felt very strongly that I was not up to the office. I was to be proved dramatically right late in 1983 (I shall talk about that later). But even before that my mentor Sam Olago hinted regularly without betraying the trust of collective responsibility he had to his fellow prefects. One thing I have to say about Sam is that he was determined that the honor come to Kirk which had not happened for well over a decade. He was a real Kirk patriot.

I decided that I was going to use the few opportunities during the meetings with the headmaster to raise issues that I felt would attract the right kind of attention I wanted. Something that was of concern to him as a manager of the school. I zeroed in on the water problem.

Now in those days we had an interesting water problem. Block 2 and one other block I don’t quite remember never had a shortage of water but the rest of the school and especially block 5 (Mumia and James) used to have such serious shortages that many seniors would come to Block 2 regularly just to shower. Guys in lower forms wouldn’t dare because Kirk was known to be a house of serious bullies who would have no qualms about embarrassing you even if you were in third or fourth form. And so I guess our neighboring house Mitchell had many more showering visitors than we did.

And so in one school prefects meeting with Kanyi when we got to the any-other-business segment I spoke and trying my best to keep my voice calm suggested that if houses that had an abundance of water could quit wasting it and maybe we also tried a kind of rationing programme houses that were in need would get a little more water.

For some technical reason whose details I don’t quite remember the rationing idea was not possible but Mr Kanyi jumped on the idea of a campaign to cut down on wastage.

I have to admit that even after his response I was still not sure whether or not I had scored any points on this one.

What I did not know then is that whatever effort I put in then would not have mattered much because there was another much bigger “political” issue that was on the headmasters mind. Something that was of great concern to him and something that would give me a huge advantage.

My digitally published Lenana memoirs

It has been quite an experience (over the last 2 years or so, on and off) writing my Lenana memoirs and now it is finally done. PHEW!!! Very emotionally draining I can tell you and if you read you will realize why.

Folks the world over hardly read any more and so I do not expect too many people to order and so I have set the price at Kshs 1,990 ($19.90). It is a digital eBook pdf format that can be sent anywhere in the world instantly via email.

Mpesa to my number 0727-217920 or Paypal to umissedthis@gmail.com