The Tale Of The Mismanagement As Depicted In Nicholas Watila’ssemi Autobiography
Many a times, or should I say hitherto, subsequent government spokesperson(s) has made it a norm to tell the citizenry on how parastatalsls are generating no income. They lament that parastals are weighing down the president’s shoulders. With this, they mean, parastasals are consuming more than what they can produce.
Besides, the politicians allied to government in their hue and cry, complain that parastatals milk the government’s resources without any output. Simply put, parastatals are a waste of money. They only consume. They are a tick on a government’s swollen udder. At times, a debate on privatization of such government owned companies dominates the media outlets. The hurly burly on such conversation do not survive the citizenry opposition. The wananchi are appreciative of the employment that comes with the existence of such organizations. They can’t allow privatization to take place.
Reading Nicholas Watila’s semi autobiography, Life’sBalanaces, one is trapped in the mismanagement that happens in parastatals. In this debut novel, Watila fictionalizes his life and painstakingly brings out this mismanagement. To be fair and sound, let us understand the meaning of the word ‘mismanagement.’ Mismanagement as defined by the Oxford Dictionary is the process of managing something badly or wrongly. On the flip chart, Transparency International equals mismanagement to corruption – which is the abuse of entrusted power for private gain.
Watila’s book therefore, addresses the mismanagement as defined beforehand. His book invites us to the wrong management practices that Agricultural Development Corporations (ADCs) are subjected to. While working at an ADC farm at Kapomboi , Watila demonstrates how Sumo ,a junior staffer is entrusted by the General Manager in all the affairs of the company . He is the Jack of all trades. He is the Mr. Knows it all. To the General Manager, Sumo is the ultimate panacea to all problems. Sumo is never wrong before the eyes of the General Manager.
Consequently, Sumo, a young man who has mastered everynook and cranny of highhandedness and single-handedness controls every man and woman on the farm. He cares not of his seniors. He ignores them. Sumo overruns everything and everywhere within the Kapomboi company. He is the head of every department. He heads security, heads livestock unit, heads mechanical section, he heads procurement. He heads everything to the happiness of the General Manager and to the displeasure of all workers including the substantive section heads. He is the ‘engine’ of the company. It appears that Sumo’s word to fellow employees is law and order. This is evident when employs take his orders that are contrary to their departmental heads.
Shockingly, the General Manager, as the book reveals is an inexperienced fellow. He has no idea on matters agriculture. This Achieno of a Manager, methinks was hired on cronyism or nepotism basis. What can we deduce from a General Manager that has no understanding of the corporation under his nose? What can we adumbrate of a General Manager that has no grip and grasp of his job descriptions; responsibilities and duties? It is deafeningly ironical that without Sumo the General Manager, Achieno is functionally dysfunctional. This is with the soothingdrawn from euphemism. Without Sumo, Achieno loses breath. He cares not to engage the other officers. Achieno does not even engage his assistant, the Deputy General Manager. When Sumo falls sick, Achieno falls ill. It is like in the case of a sick baby and an ill mother.
Above all else, the idea to make Sumo the head of all and sundry or the super manager, is the mother of all havocs for the Kapomboi parastatal. For instance, there is no harmony on the farm because of Sumo’s dictatorial tendencies. Workers have no direct access to the General Manager. One can only reach out to the General Manager through Sumo, in the spirit of no one comes to the father except through me. The mismanagement or corruption is also evident during maize harvesting. The store clerk complains of contradicting reports. The number of bags recorded at the farm during harvesting and the ones that arrive at the stores for recording are in dispute. They add up not. The madness in this is that Sumo asks the store clerk not to worry of such inconsistencies. This shows that Sumo and by extension the General Manager are aware of the missing bags are. They are the owners of the missing bags. They know exactly what happened between the farm and in the process of transportation. This explains the lack of profitability among the government owned companies.
Conclusively, Watila succeeds in communicating the inefficiencies and wrong doings that form a snug towards the good performance of the parastatals. The hiring of an inexperienced head of a parastatal is the beginning of the end of the same entity. Look at it! Why should a Manager fail to understand the basics of management; among them, esprit de corps and division of labour?
The worst of it all is that communication between the head office in Nairobi and the farm is obscured. The Divisional office is a strong barrier. It does not wish the head office to have thenitty- gritty of the employees on the farms. This has led to many being fired without the administration of fair justice. Their appeal letters disappear in the hands of the officers at the Division office. This Divisional office in my interpretation forms a cartel that is in cohort with some syndicate on the farm that does not wish to see the success of a Manager but their downfall. This might also explain why the inexperienced Manager sought the services of Sumo. Such mismanagement is paralleled to many government owned companies. Senior Managers have their Sumos. They have those individuals who tell them the tales of lies to the detriment of the organizations.
Moreover, Watila’s Life Balances has captured interesting bits of life. He talks of the psychological and physical torture that victims of accidents endure. Besides the heavy burden of the business of womanhood. The role of children in a family. Watilaportrays the influence of friends, right from childhood throughout life. He does not fail to share the hustle and bustle that one goes through in search of jobs. He invokes the role of advanced technology in modern day life.
By and large, Watila brings out the immorality and corruption in flower farms and the dire effects of alcohol on consumers and its aftermath to families. Watila does not end his semi autobiography without illuminating the failure of the political class. This is evident due to poor road network and the absence of medics in hospitals due to failure by the government to reach a remuneration pact. Above all else, the influence of good school practices as demonstrated by the head teacher of Soymining Primary School, Mr. Ndalila is replicated in Watila’slife while working in various ADCs in Trans NzoiaCounty,Kenya.
I therefore recommend the novel, Life Balance’s to any literature enthusiast. The book is a 2024 publication by African Ink Publishers.
Phelix Mulunda Nasiombe Silingi is a literature fellow - [email protected]