03.02.06 The 4th Part of Daudi's Story

Director Ntariza’s Saga

The year that followed, Zakayo left for greener pastures; and Daudi took over as the new Operations Manager, reporting to Ntariza the Director of Operations, a man who had a standing record for being ethical.

A few months thereafter, BORA won a government contract to build roads.  To execute that assignment on behalf of BORA, two companies namely Jenga Construction and Delph Contractors applied for the tender but the latter was dropped due to lack of experience.   The hitch though, was that Delph’s CEO was Daudi’s friend.  In fact, it was not uncommon for the CEO to drop expensive gifts for Daudi whenever the tycoon would return from international trips.

So, as soon as Delph heard the devastating news on the grapevine that his company had been dropped, he summoned Daudi for lunch in one of the poshest hotels in the city.  No sooner had they sat down than the contractor expressed his gross disappointment with BORA’s decision, arguing that, ‘truth be told’, the entire world knew how Delph was much better than Jenga Construction.  But a non-bothered Daudi had been quick to respond: “Organize something for the Director before Jenga is officially informed, and everything will be ok”, the Engineer had assured the visibly irritated CEO, who was known for flashing money around. 

Coincidentally, Director Ntariza had been hunting for a house to buy, tired of headaches from landlords.  So, when Daudi appeared in the Director’s office with a ‘gift’ from Delph, a mesmerized Ntariza hardly slept that night as his mind kept oscillating between accepting the ‘gift’ then depositing on a house; or rejecting the ‘gift’ and continue renting.  By dawn, he had resolved to ‘do what a man had to do’: Jenga Construction was dropped and Delph Contractors granted the tender. 

However, months later, Ntariza’s long and hard-earned reputation got dented when Delph failed to deliver.  What made things worse was that the government had to cancel BORA’s road construction contract due to poor quality of work.  When the Corporation’s furious board members demanded for explanations, it was discovered that Director Ntariza and Daudi had dropped a capable vendor in favor of one with no experience.  Orders were given for the two to be fired on the spot!