MWANGI RUHENI was born in Kenya and educated at Makerere and in the U.K. He is the author of other novels including The Love Root (Spear Books), What a life! (Longmans), and a childrens' book In Search of their Parents (Longmans). He is employed in the Kenyan Civil Service.

Reuben Ruoro leaves Makerere convinced that he is bound to be a leader. But somehow life is not so straightforward. He finds himself in awkward situations, though he does show considerable ingenuity in getting himself out of them, He fails in his first job in the pre-independence Colonial Government, partly because of prejudice and partly because of an unfortunate incident with a girl he does not love. Eventually he becomes a teacher. One day he goes to a bank and, almost in spite of himself, gets involved in a robbery. Before he realises what is he doing he picks up some bank notes that have fallen on the floor, On reflection he realises that he will really be in trouble if he is found out and decides that he had better get rid of them. He has learnt his lessons the hard way and when, at the end he comes to be interviewed for the Civil Service he knows what to say and how to behave so that this time he can really become a leader.