Book title: The Green Snake
Author: Fredrick O. Ododa
Publisher: Queenex, 2021
Price: 500/-
Reviewed by Charles O. Okoth
National exams are very important aspects of our education system. But they become a sick joke when it is not only rumoured, but is proven that they have leaked. That beats not only the purpose of going to school, but the very ground of honesty upon which we base our national ethos.
Cheating in national examinations has almost attained the status of a norm. Due to the extreme secrecy surrounding the scourge, many talk about it in whispers, fearing being accused of spreading baseless rumours.
How can such an infamy be annihilated?
The Green Snake’ has tried to tackle this very sensitive issue through a master story around the main character and narrator Brandon Opondo, bearing the semblance of James Bond in the famous series of crime busting. Not only that, but he also approaches his job with the same zeal and sophisticated weapons. He is also extravagantly handsome, a master of martial arts, a fast gun drawer and marksman, and bears many other James Bond attributes.
He is the super detective who has been assigned the role of busting the syndicate behind examination leakages.
Even before Opondo receives his brief from his boss Mr. Newton Nzinzikwa for the current assignment, he has to survive a massive gun attack in his hotel room. So is the stage set for an adventure that will see him fight hard to stay alive in the face of several near-misses, as he battles a determined gang that is set on eliminating him.
Apart from investigating national examination irregularities, and dealing with those behind it, he is also set to investigate the cause of a fire that razed down the administration block at a notorious school, Pwenje High, just before a full audit of the school funds was carried out. He also has to determine why there has been a lot of student unrest in that school.
To expedite his duties effectively, Opondo’s boss arranges for his promotion to the status of a deputy principal, and has him sent to that school in that capacity. He travels to Mombasa incognito to report to his new posting.
Thus does his week of adventure in Mombasa start.
Even before his first day at Pwenje High School ends, he already starts getting a taste of how this is going to be like.
For one, the principal, Madam Chantal Mwakulomba, receives him rather coldly. She does not seem to care that he, as a deputy, will be critical in the running of the school. Then Eddie, the gatekeeper, gives him some guarded tips. And suddenly, a girl he had taken note of in class, Emiliana, bursts some gentle bombs at him. She reveals that she inclines to like him. She also cnfides that some girls in the school seduce teachers, and that they actually fight each other for them.
And he soon gets a taste of the situation. In one of the maths books, a letter pops out. A girl, Fatuma, is begging for his love.
And to cap the first day, as he tries to find out about the fire from the former watchman, he is faced with gunmen determined to ensure the man does not talk. The poor man is shot dead as the interview goes on, with Opondo himself narrowly surviving the attack.
Then some very unsettling revelations emerge. As an investigator, he has placed spy recorders and transmitters at many points of the school, including the principal’s office. From these, he learns that the principal has set the girl, Fatuma, on him to have him nailed for a gross breach of the Code of Conduct. So when the girl follows him to his house, he is ready. He ostensibly goes out for a call, but in real sense to call the principal to come pick her up.
Later, from a thorough investigation, he finds out that this particular principal and her husband are part of a big ring of criminals who source for exams and print them for sale to particular schools. The leader of that ring is in Nairobi, right at the ministry headquarters!
Other intriguing events follow. With the cooperation of the local police and the education office, it is determined that Mrs. Chantal also burns her office to evade queries on the expenditure of the school money received from the Ministry of Education.
Incidentally, she had even murdered her former deputy principal, Mr. Pallister Odoyo, who seemed to have found out about her shady deals.
Through sheer luck, Brandon Opondo survives the close shaves and lives to tell the heroic story. The book ends with the hero heading to State House to be rewarded for his great work in eliminating the perpetrators of examination irregularities.
The book touches on issues which are contemporary, and very salient. Exam cheating is an issue that everybody should be keen to fight. It is definitely a blow against those who would want to cheat. We need more of such books which take on those who perpetrate evil in our society.
And for the lover of investigative thrillers, Mr. Ododa has definitely done you a good turn. This is one book you might find hard to put down. School libraries need this to be relevant.
