Mr. Kuya, you are a great man, a man of honour, a person of values, a respectable individual, and an astute professional.
This is an open letter to Mr. Manasseh Kuya, Acting Headmaster, Mwisho wa Lami Primary School.
Dear Sir,
I hope this letter finds you well — in great health, in good spirits, and feeling in good shape psychologically and mentally. I wish I could say that I am also well; but the truth, and I am a truthful man, is that I am not well. I am very far from being well, whether in my mind, my soul, my body, or my heart.
Let’s face the facts: I love school, I love talking to students and teachers, I love teaching, I love the smell of chalk dust, the scent of sweaty children in the afternoons, the quarrels, the fights, everything you find in a school. I love that, and I have missed it.
As you know, the last time I was in school was during the first term, on that closing day when we said goodbye to each other, expecting to meet again in just a few weeks. While everyone else came back and school life went on, I did not. Misfortune followed me, one after another.
During this period, I have accused you of being behind my woes. You did not send me on the ill-fated spiritual journey with Apostle Kuya that kept me away from the world for months. I went there myself and was incapacitated to run the school.
TSC, in its wisdom, appointed the most qualified teacher at Mwisho wa Lami Bench - after me - to take care of the affairs of the school. That person happened to be you—and it is a job you have done well.
Even long before I was scheduled to come back, I vilified you, talked badly about you, inquired from students and teachers how you were running the school, and joined them in criticising everything you did. I told some teachers not to listen to you, to oppose everything you said; and paid some students to disobey your instructions. In other words, sir, I in-subordinated you—making your life difficult.
Yet you were running the school well. You had identified several pillars that you were working on steadfastly, remaining focused on the mission of transforming the sons and daughters of the great men and women of Mwisho wa Lami from brats to brights.
You were doing a good job in guiding teachers to always do their best for the kids and keep a great relationship with parents.
As the acting headmaster, I must admit that I did not recognise you as such. I saw you as a passing cloud, as someone who did not deserve to be in that position. Behind your back, I told everyone how you were unqualified, how you were taking the school in the wrong direction, how the school was missing me, and how the great TSC would regret having decided to appoint you as acting HM.
I even claimed that you did not deserve to be a teacher, and that with you at the helm you, Mwisho wa Lami Primary School, as we know it today, may cease to exist. Dear sir, I was wrong. You are more than qualified to be a deputy and have carried yourself with dignity and honour, and have run the school in a professional, focused manner.
The evidence is here for everyone to see. You never answered me back, never said a single bad word about me to anyone; you basically ignored me and kept your eyes on the ball—the ball here being Mwisho wa Lami Primary School.
Even when I regained consciousness and learned that you were the acting HM, I did not call you to wish you well or to tell you anything that would be important for you in exercising your duties.
I never talked to you about it. Even when my time to return to school arrived, I did not seek you in advance to inform you of my return or to find out how all was. I should have created an environment for a smooth transition. Instead, I just walked into school and behaved like you never existed. I made it seem like the school had been without leadership for over one term—that I was the best thing since sliced bread.
Dear sir, I was wrong. I should have handled things differently. I should have reached out to you even at home. I should have thanked you for what you did for me and acknowledged the many good things that you had done — things I had failed to do. But I considered myself too senior and you too junior to talk to.
But sir, why am I writing to you? I am writing to say that I am sorry for all this. I am remorseful. Because of my hubris, I have issues with TSC—with no one there talking to me. While I know you to be a reasonable man who is not vengeful, I am sure that what I am undergoing with TSC cannot be happening without your knowledge and approval.
I do not doubt that all TSC needs to hear from you is that you were acting HM, and that the substantive HM who was away incapacitated is now back, as fit as a fiddle and ready to discharge his solemn duties as HM of the great Mwisho wa Lami Primary School. It is you who holds the key to my future.
I have seen how close you are to the TSC sub-county director. She is at your beck and call. All she needs to hear from you is that I am back, ready to serve, and she will reinstate me.
Sir, I promise that once I am back, I will treat you with utmost professional respect, I will respect you as you deserve, and give you the latitude to operate as you wish.
Mr. Kuya, you are a great man, a man of honour, a person of values, a respectable individual, and an astute professional. Find it in your heart to forgive me; I am on my bended knee. Let TSC know that I am back, I am ready to serve, and that you are ready to resume your duties as Deputy Headmaster. I can assure you that I will repay you in ways you can't even imagine.
Yours in distress,
Mwalimu Andrew, Esquire. GCH, CRE.
