Hi readers! I was secretly delighted when Coco froze a bit as she sat on the ‘holy water’ that nanny had discretely sprinkled around in my office at Seb’s place to ‘neutralize’ whatever evil anyone may have put in there to disturb me in any way. I do have a lot of regards for the holy water that is a part of my Christian denomination, as we were raised in it, but it wasn’t its possible ability to combat evil that pleased me that day, but, rather, it was the fact that Coco sat in water.

In spite of surface civility, she’s still not one of my favourite persons, just as I’m sure I remain in her secret bad book. So, I don’t drip with sympathy when anything makes her uncomfortable.

1 don’t wish her evil, of course, but sitting in water is ‘thrilling’ if you’re not the victim, isn’t it? She sprang up as soon as she felt the water on her bum. “These cleaners!   How anyone can clean a room and leave water on the chairs is baffling. I’m soaked.”

“Oh, sorry,” I said at once. “I hope it isn’t too bad?”

“Just a bit. I’ll go find out who cleaned this room. Please excuse me.”

“Coco, if it’s something you can bear, please stay and let’s go on with our discussion,” said Joe, urgently. “I came out here at 7 a.m. to beat the traffic so that we can hold this meeting and I can return to Victoria Island as soon as possible. I have an appointment to keep over there this morning, and I’m just praying that I make it. There’s still traffic build-up in many places, even though the 3rd Mainland bridge is now open. Can you manage?”

“Sure. I’m sorry I made a fuss.”

“Oh no! You have every reason to,” said Tayo. “I wouldn’t want to sit in a pool of water.   There’s time afterwards to deal with the careless cleaner.”

“True, let’s start.”

“Er,” said Joe, clearing his voice for effect. “The four of us here this morning are having this meeting because we care about Seb and this company, which through no fault of his, he’s been unable to run for many months now.  

When he asked me to liaise with you, Coco, I had my reservations because you’re a very dedicated staff of his, and you’ve been over the years, during which you went through thick and thin with him, and even encouraged him to expand to Accra. I believe so much in your capability and I didn’t want to get involved. 

But when he told me that my sister, who’s an inactive director of the company, is to come help out until his return, I had to bow to his wish. Why? Because I didn’t want any misunderstanding between you two good ladies. That’s why I’m here. You don’t mind, Coco, do you?”

“Ah, Joe darling, how can I object? You’re like a brother to me. We started a fellowship which has now blossomed into a church together. You and I will always be there for each other. Your sister is my sister, isn’t it?”

“Well said, Coco dear. Now, one can say that Tayo is a business advisor to Seb, so, she has every right to be here.”

“And she introduced me to Seb and got me this job many years ago.”

“Oh? I had forgotten that. Well, all well and good then. We all have a right to be here. Now, it’s tricky for an outsider to come to be at the helm of affairs, even for one day, when there are able hands within, so, Coco, you’ll have to cooperate with Treena if we’re to achieve any good results. You can make things unpleasant and difficult for her, but I’m assuming that you feel yourself too much a part of the success of this business to be a cog in the wheel. Am I right?”

“You are, Joe. Will co-operate as much as I can with er, Mrs, er with Treena. She’s asked me to call her by her first name. I won’t thwart her efforts in any way.”

“Good. And, Treena, my dear sister. I’m sorry, but you know how I’ve always felt about you keeping your distance from a business that you laboured to found. I’m not apportioning blame to anyone, but if you had remained in the business despite the end of your marriage with Seb, we won’t need to have this meeting.   But all that’s in the past. We have to move forward. You too will have to do you best to listen to Coco and take her advice as much as possible. Are you willing to do that, sis?”

“Thank you Joe. I will.”

“Good. Tayo, you know more about why we’re here than I do, so, over to you. Define Treena’s role while here, so, that Coco will not feel marginalized.”

“You’re making me seem so important, Joe. I won’t feel marginalized in any way.”

“Thanks Coco,” said Tayo, briskly. “You’re head of Administration, so you know a lot about the running of this organization. What is the most pressing problem now?

“Money,” said Coco without any hesitation. “It’s in short supply. I’m not saying that there may not have been some carelessness or negligence on my part, but we’ve not managed our finances well for many months now. I should have been more strict on spending. I didn’t examine very closely what we were spending money on.”

“Hm! Well said, Coco. How bad is the situation?”

“Very bad. If you look out at the office block opposite us, you’ll see some members of staff hanging around doing nothing. They’re on a sort of work-to-rule because they’ve not been paid their September salaries in full.”

“I thought a bank loan was got for August and September salaries. I took charge of that and the money was credited to the relevant account. What happened to the money?”

“I think the Chief Accountant should be asked to come explain what he did with the money.”

“Okay, call him in.”

Coco went over to the side table to use the telephone. It’s amazing that even though I’ve known Tayo almost all my life, I’ve not really witnessed her handling of business matters. She’s tough. While speaking, she refuses to make eye contact with Coco as she belted out instructions. No wonder she’s so successful.

Soon, the Chief Accountant came in. Good-looking and efficient-looking, fortyish guy. Apparently, he hadn’t been informed that Joe and Tayo were around, or, maybe he was feigning surprise at seeing them. He greeted us amiably enough and took his seat. Tayo asked how the company was faring.

“We’re doing well, madam,” the man said confidently.

“Are you serious? I don’t have that impression. If you were doing well, why would we need to take a bank loan to pay salaries?”

“Madam is an experienced Chartered Accountant, and you’ve been an advisor to this organization for a long time, ma, and taking a loan is normal. We won’t say a company has failed because it took a loan to settle debts. As you know, ma, what we look at, is how viable is the company.

We are just passing through a trying phase which will soon end, by the special grace of God. Our products are in high demand and our suppliers haven’t stopped allowing us supplies on credit. Once we get the workers to go back to full production, we will more than break even.”

“Why are your workers working to rule, sir?” asked Tayo sternly.

“They’re just being unreasonable. We settled part of their September salaries, but couldn’t meet the rest at the time we promised. There are some bad eggs among them who are instigating others not to work until they get the remaining part.”

“Fair enough. How do you intend to do that?”

“Er, madam, if we can get a loan to settle that, and they go back to work, we’ll recoup. We have many orders on our hand.”

“Fine. You remember that the loan we got was for the sum you asked for and it was to meet full payment of salaries for August and September. Why couldn’t you meet full payment of salaries?”

“Er, there were some urgent payment to be made to some suppliers and contractors. I had to use part of the salaries to do that. Once we resume full production, things would be fine. Our customers usually pay up on time, at least, most of them do. We just need this small loan to tide us over. The interest is not that high, I presume. The government is encouraging manufacturers with low interests on loans.”

“Thanks for that information, sir. Now, did you tell the Admin Manager that you wouldn’t be meeting full salaries for September?”

“She’s not talking to me, madam. She stopped talking to me several weeks ago, so, I couldn’t discuss the issue with her.”

“You could have sent her a memo.”

“Yes, madam, but as Chief Accountant, I’m not really under her. I shouldn’t be taking instruction from the Admin Manager. I’m a trusted professional. I should use my discretion. If our boss were here, I would have recommended that measure to him, and I’m sure he would have supported it. He gives me free hand in my area of operation.”

“Coco, what have you to say about this?”

“I don’t want to bandy words with him, but I want to make one thing clear. It’s true that he’s not under me, but according to laid down rules, we’re to work hand in hand in the area of expenditure. I have to know what money goes out and what comes in, for my own records.

I’m not querying his efficiency, but one has to obey the boss. His staff collect debts from our customers, and the money is not recorded. What caused the cold war was when I asked him what happened to the money that one of his lady staff had collected from three of our debtors. He wouldn’t give me a straight answer. We’re talking of N3.5 million.

They were outstanding debts and Mr. Kwenta said I should go persuade these customers to pay up, even if it’s just a part of what they were owing. I got a shock when they said that they had given open cheques to Rose in the Accounts Dept.

They showed me receipts as proof. We could have used the money to settle some of our suppliers and still had enough to pay full salaries. He couldn’t, or wouldn’t account for that money, and the lady in question has stopped coming to work, without seeking leave of absence from my department.

I couldn’t understand that, so, there was no need to continue being on speaking terms with him. He must know what he’s doing. I left him to perform his duties the way he wants.”

At this point, coffee and snacks were brought in, and we went on a short break.

Tara.

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