Stranger in his Homeland

Chapter Thirty Two

253 Chapter Thirty-Two Antony went straight to the Prefet’s office where he reported how he had been very falsely accused and openly disgraced by Zaché in front of his subordinates, and how he had been driven out of the house. The Prefet received the news with very great alarm. He wondered loudly why Zaché would do that. Antony had expected him to invite Zaché him to invite Zaché so that they thrash the case there and then. He did not. Instead he asked for accommodation to be arranged in the Case de Passage for Antony, pending completion of work on the house that was to be occupied by him as the “Surveillant General.” Antony appreciated the change but could still not understand why the Prefet was so reluctant to take action against Zaché When Zaché came there the following day to make his formal complaint he made a serious administrative blunder. He timidly warned that he would use his authority to cause Zaché to be removed from his office and be replaced by Antony if he Zaché did not want to work in peace with Antony. Zaché concluded that the Prefet must be siding with Antony. He informed the Prefet that he was not only a seasoned educationalist but the man who had singlehandedly fought for the creation of the college in Sigili-Mundu. The running of the college demanded constant discussion between the Prefet and the authorities of the college. The Prefet was already having problems understanding the intricacies of college administration explained to him in French. How was he to cope with information handed to him by an anglo in translation? He warned that it was most unlikely for an anglo to be allowed to rule in a francophone environment. To ask Zaché to leave, he argued was tantamount to saying that the college should leave Sigili-Mundu. He pointed out to the Prefet that the problem between him and Antony was a struggle for supremacy between anglo minority and franco-phone majority. 254 Linus T. Asong Antony had already gone to school. He was still teaching English because he had not fully taken up his new responsibilities. Besides, nobody had been sent to take over his lessons as the only English teacher there. It was one of the criticisms of the system he noted in his diary that the Government promoted teachers and took them away from the professional duties without sending anybody to replace them in the classrooms. When he returned from school that afternoon the Prefet called the two men together and told them to bury any differences which existed between them and work peacefully for the betterment of the state. He cited the motto of the state: “MALICE TOWARDS NONE.” Theydid.OnhispartZachéwasinfuriatedbythefactthathiscomplaint had merely earned Antony a more comfortable place to live in. *** As “Surveillant General” Antony was entitled to an allowance of I2,000 francs. But this was only possible upon receipt by the Minister of Education of a document signed by the head of his institution that he had assumed his new responsibilities. Zaché refused to sign the document. Zaché was also an important signatory to a document which would make Antony the occupant of the house of the “Surveillant General” when it was completed. This too he refused to sign. Zaché refused to give him the keys to the office of “Surveillant General” on the pretext that there was no furniture in it. And even after Antony made it clear that he could furnish it himself, he would not change his mind. Zaché refused to release the stamp of “Surveillant General” to Antony on grounds that he had received no such thing from Tetseale, and had not been instructed to have one carved or ordered. He did not stop there! He seized every opportunity to belittle and frustrate Antony by deliberately and systematically contradicting his orders. If a student committed a crime and Antony asked him to cut grass, this was the moment Zaché found most appropriate to give him a learned lecture on leniency in French. And this he did in front of the culprit, always ending up by asking him to leave grass cutting and pick up pieces of papers! If he found a boy picking up papers as punishment, Zaché always thought it the best occasion 255 Stranger in his Homeland to point out to Antony how the lightness of punishment defeats its...