Well,
I never…
… believe that this working day could
turn out like this. Temper was lost alright and there was an actual shouting
match in the office, however, it didn’t involve me; well, not directly anyway!
It was like this. There is a bank
account that supposedly is used to receive a grant from a donor, at specific
points in time. The fund was then supposedly transferred to the school’s
account, to be disbursed according to the terms of the contract. So far, so
good. However, as a bean counting auditor, I felt that there was a jigsaw piece
missing and I wanted it! So, I asked for the statements of this particular
account and was told quite categorically that none existed. I said that this is
not possible. To cut a fairly long story short, it transpired that banks here
don’t send statements by post, they actually hand over the hardcopy statements
in a (white, not brown!) envelope to cheque signatories. In this particular
case, the bank manager told the person (that I charged with the task of
pursuing this with the bank) that statements were in deed prepared regularly
and handed over to a director of the school. When asked, this director,
allegedly, replied nonchalantly that oh yes, he forgot that he did get them now
and then and put them here and there (and everywhere) but he would go home and
look for them immediately.
Well over twenty four hours had passed
and still no statements, so I asked again. Well, this person came in, from his
house, and shouted at the person who asked the question on my behalf and
allegedly hurling abuse at her. I couldn’t understand very much of it as it was
all in very fast and angry creole, but his body language told me aplenty.
Anyway, this unfortunate person (a very sweet, gentle, French volunteer who is going
home soon after 2 years’ service to the school) is barely a few months older
than my Alice and she was very upset (and no little wonder, being yelled at is
bad enough but in the office, in front of many other people and some of these,
her very own music pupils). I con not stop the director without causing offence
and perhaps making him lose face but at the same time I can not allow this ugly
scene to continue…
I got up from my desk and walked over
to the volunteer’s desk and literally hugged her and steered her away from
facing the director. At this, she completely crumbled and sobbed her heart out
and visibly trembled. I held her for a while and spoke to her in English – to
the effect that she should try to maintain her dignity and not sink to this
person’s level, i.e. maintain her moral high ground. After a little while, she
composed herself; all the while, the ranting continued, but at my back… After a
while, he stomped away … and you could hear a pin drop!
I sought out the top bod and reported
the incident immediately. I said that this was not on and he agreed with me and
said that he would deal with it.
For the avoidance of doubt, I have had
no cause to think that there was anything improper as regards the bank account.
My current gut feeling is someone’s inability to admit his own lack of
organisational competence in this case. Time will tell…
Neil (of AfID), this human shield peace-making
lark was not part of my remit of an accounting assignment! I want my money back
(joke)!
Mind you, I think I have earned some
respect because of this – just an almost imperceptible shift in how other
people interacted with me the rest of the day. More than their usual normal
helpful selves, right from the beginning.
I left the office at 7:30 pm almost 12
hours after I entered it, totally spent!
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