BY ANDANJE WAKHUNGU
Chief Principal Masayi Mwalati recently retired after several years in charge of Kimangeti Secondary School and more than 30 years in teaching.
Kimangeti Secondary School is a Public Sub-County Secondary School, located in Kabras East near Malava Town, Malava Constituency in Kakamega County.
Principal Mwalati recently enjoyed cakes, hot drinks and honey with colleagues early this year to celebrate nearly three decades of working in education.
Colleagues said he would be ‘much missed’ by everyone at the school and they wished him all the best in his retirement.
Mwalati’s tenure however, never comes easy as at times he narrowly escaped the wrath of the students and community but not without shedding some blood in his line of duty.
“Imagine a whole principal having to flee for his life under a hail storm of stones and other crude weapons as irked students bayed for my blood after being incited by interested parties who wanted him me out of the institution claiming I was an outsider who was not welcomed as an administrator there”, said the principal.
He was narrating his ordeal and escapades as a school head in various institutions he served within several parts of this country to family and friends who had gathered to attend his retirement ceremony.
Having served as an administrator in the education sector for more than 1/4 century with 7 years as deputy and 14 as head teacher(before they changed the name to principal),had its own ups and downs but he says the final decision lies within one’s heart whether to quit or take up the challenge positively.
The Biology and chemistry teacher has seen it all as far as the profession is concerned and admits that there are good and bad times in the journey that calls for soberness and tolerance for one to attain his retirement age peacefully.
His early education began in Lugusi Primary within Kakamega North sub county after which he moved to Butula Boys in Busia, then Nyeri High school where he cleared his A levels after which he joined the then Kenyatta University College now Kenyatta University.
He was once a Board of Management teacher for two years at Friends Malava Boys and later at Lugusi Secondary before embarking fully on his teaching career outside the locality.
In 1986, he graduated as a teacher in Biology (Botany and Zoology).
He received his posting letter even before sitting for his last exam paper and he had to report to his new station (Turkana girls) before returning to campus to finish his exam.
“My perception about lodgings being a place for wayward people changed immediately when i started to teach in Turkana where transport was a major issue and I would spend 3 days on the road.
“I started to respect lodgings as they were our rescue sleeping places whenever traveling to or from school”, said Mwalati.
Working under head teacher Claire, a white lady at the school was an experience of its own.
They had no agriculture teacher and I opted to take up the mandate and soon the school was producing its own vegetables from a garden we set up behind the girls’ bathrooms.
Although at first it sounded crazy for both the head teacher and the students, and despite the girls not willing to eat the greens, they unknowingly ate and loved the delicacy and together with the head teacher being mesmerized by my innovations promised to maintain the garden, considering Turkana was dry and vegetables for the girls was to be purchased from far.
His second posting was to Kapenguria Boys then known as Government African School (GAS) which was established in 1929 by the colonialists as a primary school.
Mwalati had the pleasure of being among the first teachers to convert it into a secondary school in 1987 just before the then head teacher Benjamin Rono handpicked him to be his deputy following the indisposition of the then deputy.
“It is here that Mwalati fully exercised his mandate as a deputy and in 1991, the school participated in soccer for the first time and won the national soccer trophy.
From here the school picked up improving in various aspects including academics especially Biology and Chemistry.
For the 8 years he was there, he transformed the school to the best of his knowledge and at one point (1994), the then Principal Rotich Biro resigned recommending him to take over in acting capacity as principal.
Mwalati had a fanatical following and attempts by him to pave way for the new principal triggered protests from students who wanted him to be made full principal.
The then provincial Director of Education(PDE) Sammy Olekwala was misinformed that I had incited students to go on rampage and summoned me to his office to show cause why I should not be interdicted.
After finding that he had nothing to do with it, he was transferred to Wamba Secondary in school Samburu where he refused to report due to mobility problems.
His transfer to Wamba Secondary turned out to be another thorn in the flesh as he found the school closed after the boys protested against bad administration of the principal and he had to use the media (radio) to announce to the locals that he was the new principal and hence learning was due to commence soon, after which the students reported back to school.
His four years at Wamba saw it grow both in academics and extracurricular activities.
One day, the Provincial Director of Education Joseph Amdany visited and acknowledged his hard work besides sympathizing for the distance between his family back in Western and Wamba.
He was transferred to Arnesens High school in Eldoret not knowing that was the mother of all battles he was about to face.
His proven track record from previous schools worked to his advantage as he instilled discipline back to the institution but the former head got wind of how his predecessor had overhauled the discipline and academic portraying him as a failure.
It is here that the chief principal dodged death by a whisker thanks to his lean figure and exercise he used to undertake as he was cornered by the students allied to the former principal and before he knew it he was navigating between classes with the students hot on his heels while unleashing stones and all manner of armory at him.
“I was on my routine checkup at night and when I just entered the dining hall, some students just screamed my name and hell broke loose, I took to my feet as a swarm of angry boys advanced towards me with assorted crude weapons and as much as I managed to dash out and through the compound dodging stones and weapons being hurled at me”, narrated Mwalati.
He was knocked at the back of his head sustaining injuries.
He was later treated and stitched 7 times before he reported matter to the police who visited the scene and found everything just normal hence dismissed his story until the education office came over next day and suspended 23 boys who later confessed of the plot.
He continued to serve as principal before he was again transferred and totally rejected in Baringo (Bartolimo High school) by the Board before being moved to Kimolot Secondary where again the students were against the removal of their principal.
Later he was taken to Olekajuado Secondary in Kajiado.
He was transferred to Bujumba Secondary in Busia but again the Board rejected him demanding for their own and he decided to take a break and contemplate what next best for him
He later was to land in Shamberere Secondary within his home turf but the students there refused to let him in.
My stint at Shamberere Secondary was hectic just like my leaving where the boys ran amok and demonstrated breaking things because they did not want me to go and it was all over the news but I left to Kimangeti Boys in my village where I have worked for four years to my retirement.
