The full-file review began with Tunu hoping that the remaining obstacle would be Pili’s signature. She arrived at the municipal service centre with the green folder, settlement receipt, inspection findings and Juma’s lease. Salma was behind the desk, but another records clerk was the one who opened the application.
The clerk read the current address, entered the plot code on the screen and shook his head.
“This code does not match the database.”
Tunu showed him the lease. “It is written here.”
“The screen says Mavuno Block C, Unit 4. Your lease says Mavuno Block C, Unit 4A.”
“It is the same unit.”
“I need evidence of the mapping.”
Tunu felt the deadline pressing down on her. She had only a few days before the window ended. She wanted to say that Juma had agreed before, but a spoken agreement was not a mapping record. She called Juma in front of the clerk.
“Do you have the renovation records?”
Juma said he would search his office. Tunu sent him a photograph of the screen and asked him not to send anyone’s identity document. The clerk placed the application in the status *returned for address confirmation*, not *rejected*.
“Does this put me outside the window?” Tunu asked.
“I have not written that. Bring the cross-reference before the decision.”
Tunu left with Amina, who had brought copies of the documents. They crossed the building courtyard and found Juma opening a box of receipts. He had an assessment for the veranda and an invoice from the contractor who had changed the unit numbers when the corridor was extended.
“I thought a number was a number,” Juma said.
“This week I have learned that there is no small box on a form.”
Juma read the assessment. The old number was written at the side and the new one at the top. There was no sentence saying that 4A had become 4, but the unit drawing showed Tunu’s door. Juma called the clerk for the property records and asked for confirmation of a copy. That clerk said the record could be released after seeing the assessment receipt.
“When did this building change?” Tunu asked.
“The second year before you signed the new lease,” Juma said. “I kept using the old template.”
“And when you gave me the rent receipts?”
“I continued using the old unit code.”
Amina said, “Then Tunu is not the only person with a record gap.”
Juma did not get angry. “That is why we should not blame one person for the numbers failing to match.”
They returned to the service centre with the assessment, drawing and a short letter from Juma explaining the old-to-new mapping. The clerk asked Tunu to number every page. She did so, initialled her copy and asked for a submission receipt.
At the records window, the clerk noticed that the drawing did not show the unit’s back door. Tunu wanted to lose her temper; she had already made the trip twice. Instead, she asked Juma to send the second page of the building plan. Juma searched a drawer and found the plan marked with the renovation details and the old contractor’s stamp.
“Is this the page you were missing?” Juma asked.
“It shows the code only,” the clerk said. “We need the code and the unit location.”
Amina asked Tunu not to photograph the plan without Juma’s permission. Juma agreed to one copy and put the property name at the top. Tunu learned that even a correct document needed context if it was not to become another puzzle.
When they returned to the desk, Tunu asked the clerk to write what was missing on the receipt. The clerk wrote “old/new plot cross-reference and unit location,” then added his initials. Tunu thanked him. “That gives me a task with a beginning and an end.”
The clerk replied, “And it stops us from searching for papers without knowing what we are searching for.”
“This letter says Unit 4A is under the new building code,” the clerk said.
“Juma has signed it.”
“I will attach it.”
The screen changed from *returned* to *pending verification*. Tunu asked whether that was the same as complete.
“We are still confirming the code in the property record.”
“I do not want to call it complete before it is.”
The clerk looked at her and entered a request into the system. Ten minutes later, the property record returned with the old reference and the new reference. The clerk closed the address field and accepted the settlement documents, inspection correction schedule and prior-trader acknowledgement.
Tunu asked Juma to read the address again before they left. Juma said, “Mavuno Block C, Unit 4, formerly 4A,” and signed the mapping page. Tunu added the date and time, then photographed her receipt. Amina told her, “You have made a number into evidence, not decoration.” Tunu replied, “And I have learned to ask for it before the deadline.”
Salma read through the file in the order of the checklist. The wiring repair had the technician’s receipt, the extinguisher had a serial note, the aisle had been photographed and Pili had signed the clean exit after the first payment. The ownership transfer was no longer waiting for evidence; it was waiting for a decision.
“Is this the first time the file looks complete?” Tunu asked.
“With the documents I have now, yes. But the decision is a separate step.”
Tunu asked for a copy of the screen status and the date. The clerk issued a receipt with a new submission number. Tunu put that number in the cashbook too, because she wanted the appointment to be part of the shop’s timeline, not only a note in the folder.
Amina asked her, “Are you celebrating?”
“I am breathing. The celebration needs the decision.”
They left the service centre. Juma messaged them that he would follow the written extension as agreed, and that Faraji had asked again but would be given an answer about the unit only if Tunu left in writing. Tunu replied to Juma, “Thank you. Do not give him my status without permission.”
In the evening, Tunu returned to the shop. Beka was testing a new charger with a meter. A customer wanted to buy ten cables, but Tunu took only four because the cash had been assigned to Pili’s instalment.
She opened the service-centre phone and showed Beka the case status. She did not say it had been approved. She said the file was complete for review and the decision was pending. Beka wrote the date on the shop calendar.
That night, Tunu returned to the application page. On the clerk’s screen, the status had changed from **INCOMPLETE** to **DECISION PENDING**.
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