STORY TITLE: Trap
AUTHOR: Kelvin Jasi
CHAPTER 10
“My name is Charmaine Masara. The daughter of the former Minister of State for Midlands Province, Dr. Petros N Masara, who by the special grace of God is the current Minister of Education. My mother is Honorable Dr. Sofia Pinky Masara popularly known as ‘Madam P’, who represents the good people of Mukobha Constituency in the House of Assembly. I am a 100 level Civil Engineering student. I am wrongly accused, along with my friend…”
“Hold it, my dear. You will have enough time to defend yourself. Are you certain about this?” asked the Vice-Chancellor.
“Yes, Prof,” Charmaine responded.
“Address me as Professor, not Prof”, the Vice-Chancellor said.
“I am sorry, Professor”, apologized Charmaine.
“Better.”
At that point, the entire house trembled. Goosebumps were all over me. People were turning heads to each other with astonishment.
Everyone knew the Minister. I used to see him on television. He was a no-nonsense man. The former army general. Throughout the country, he was very powerful and influential.
Madam P was a resounding name throughout the whole of Manicaland. I used to hear little children saying among themselves that they would love to be like Madam P when they grow up.
Dr Kuma became very uncomfortable. It was all over his face. I was not the only one who wondered why such a girl should be studying in a public university in Zimbabwe.
“Indeed, this is a truism”, the Vice-Chancellor continued. “The Minister called me a fortnight ago ordering the cancellation of the disciplinary committee that was set up to look after this case. He instructed that I should personally preside over this matter. I was bewildered at such interest the Honorable Minister indicated in this case. But now it is glaring.” He paused to clear his throat and then continued. “I know some of us here are not aware of the reason for our congregating here on such short notice. For truth, it was the Honorable Minister who fixed this meeting today. Nevertheless, I thank you all for honoring my invitation. However, I will brief the Council on why we are here when we return from a short break. The break will last for fifteen minutes.”
As to why the Vice-Chancellor ordered a break when we just started about 10 minutes ago was unknown to me at first. But when we went outside, Advocate Tatenda Gomba briefed us.
“The Council is shocked to know your true identity. Dr Kuma was visibly shaken. He has not seen anything yet. By the time we are done with him, he will learn his lesson the hard way”, said Tatenda Gomba just before he took a sip of his water. “I hope you have all those documents intact, right?” He said to Charmaine.
“Yeah! Everything is intact”, Charmaine responded.
“Good. You will take your time while presenting them one after the other. Don’t mix them up. Do your part, then we will take it up from there. I trust you on this.” He smiled wickedly.
“And you Jeffrey”, the lawyer continued, “you will be backing your friend up. You don’t have much to say. You will tell us exactly what happened on the said day you both went to submit your assignment in his office. I hope you can handle it!”
“Yes I can”, I answered. From my voice, it was clear that I was afraid.
“Don’t be afraid of those people. They won’t do you anything. You have the protection from the law”, the lawyer, advocate Gomba assured.
I nodded.
Fifteen minutes were almost gone, so we returned to our seats.
After everyone must have seated, the Vice-Chancellor continued, “you are welcome back. I earlier told you that I will brief you on the reason why we all are gathered here. We have a case before us today. The case is between Dr. Kuma here, our staff, and Jeffrey Maroto and Charmaine Masara, our students. Surprisingly unusual, the Ministry of Education is very much interested in this case. Like I said earlier, the Honorable Minister called to register his interest in this matter. And as you all know, this citadel of learning has zero-tolerance for theft. Dr. Kuma reported something to the students’ disciplinary committee before the matter was later referred to the Council. So I will like Dr. Kuma to have the floor.”
After glancing through the house, Dr Kuma cleared his throat and began, “I remain Dr Dennis Kuma, popularly called Dr Kuma. I studied Pharmaceutical Sciences at PhD level from the prestigious University of Zimbabwe (UZ). I have another PhD in Civil Engineering from the University of South Africa (UNISA). Currently, I am running another PhD in Meta Physics from Harvard University, USA.”
He paused to have a sip of his water as everyone had table water before them. He continued, “we all know that this institution has zero-tolerance for theft, examination malpractice, and crime. Those offenses attract expulsion. As the Chairman of the disciplinary committee, I reported a case to the committee for action. After my usual lecture on the said morning, I told them to submit the assignment I gave the class to my office. I did not want them to submit through the course representative. My phone was on my table. Everyone saw it. I was shocked to find out that my phone was no longer on the table as soon as these two left the office. I have two witnesses. My witnesses saw the phone on the table, but as soon as these two left, it disappeared. I borrowed a phone from one of them to dial my number, but it was already switched off. I sent for them immediately, but they denied ever seeing the phone. I sent for the Security Officer here, he came and joined the search. The Security Officer promised to find the phone, but it is disheartening to tell the house that up till this moment, the phone is yet to be seen. The most painful part is that all my documents were saved in the phone. My banking details, passwords to my emails, my academic details, my certificates, etc, all were stored on the phone. My phone had no password, so my sensitive details are not saved. Thank you.” He took another sip from his bottle.
“Young girl, what do you have to say?” asked the Vice-Chancellor.
Charmaine rose up and began, “with due respect Professor, I would like to be addressed as Charmaine Masara, and not ‘young girl’. Thank you all.”
With that, the house murmured.
“Very well then, Charmaine Masara. The house has taken note of that, you may continue please”, said the Vice-Chancellor.
The house became silent again.
“Thank you, Professor. With due respect to the Vice-Chancellor and all other members of the Council, Dr. Kuma here is not fit to be among where humans are.”
“Young girl, Sorry, Charmaine Masara, I will advise you to watch your tongue. You are before the Council. Whatever you have to say, you must apply decorum to it. Tatenda Gomba, please advise your client. She is still a student here”, the Vice-Chancellor said.
Tatenda Gomba whispered to Charmaine and she nodded.
She cleared her throat and said, “I am sorry if my choice of words is offensive to the Council. I will look for a better way to address Dr Kuma”.
END OF CHAPTER 10. Read the next episode, Chapter 11 here, now!
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