Record Retention

We’ve had a bit of a problem with record retention in the office of late. Nothing to do with files getting lost or going walkabout, but rather that our finance files are apparently quite tasty - if you happen to be a rodent at least! Evidence was first spotted a few weeks ago. I was away at the time, and thought I’d missed all the drama. But no, more was waiting for me on my return! The files below (or remains thereof) came from desk drawer of a colleague who sits at the other desk in my office. Admittedly they were in a drawer where she used to keep various snacks, so maybe the rodents had resorted to files once the snacks were removed – or maybe they couldn’t tell the difference?!!

On this discovery, which came on the back of other sightings, the offices were then liberally strewn with ‘dawa ya panya’ (rat ‘medicine’). It was commented on afterwards that doing so when there are a number of cats on the compound perhaps wasn’t such a good idea…… Anyway, by last Tuesday, a rather unpleasant pong began to permeate from beneath the sink in our kitchen area. Underneath was quite an assortment of torn up paper, tissues, remnants of groundnuts – and 3 dead, rather large mice. No other floor seems to have them. It must be something about those finance files!! We’ve since had another dawa fatality, and one caught by Kones, our inhouse now-dubbed ‘rat-catcher’. How many more there are remains to be seen over the coming days and weeks….