Khalwale goes for head of Mukumu Girls, county education director over disease outbreak
The entrance of Mukumu Girls High School in Kakamega County. Kakamega Senator Boni Khalwale accuses the County Director of Education and the school principal of failing to contain a recent disease outbreak at the institution.
Kakamega Senator Boni Khalwale is piling pressure on the Ministry of Education to overhaul the management of Sacred Heart Mukumu Girls High School in Kakamega County.
The senator has accused the County Director of Education Mr Dickson Ogonya and the principal of the school Ms Frida Ndolo of failing to act to contain the outbreak of a disease at the institution that led to the death of two students.
Learners who were taken ill by the bacterial infection were admitted with vomiting, diarrhea, and dizziness.
Dr Khalwale said Mr Ogonya and Ms Ndolo should be transferred to new stations for failing to protect learners after the reported outbreak of the disease, which saw 124 students admitted to different hospitals.
He said Mr Ogonya and Ms Ndolo had ignored to act on the recommendations of the Quality Assurance officers in the region to address poor hygienic conditions at the school.
The senator told Kakamega Catholic Bishop Joseph Obanyi not to protect Ms Ndolo after she had failed to do her job.
“As leaders from Kakamega, we are demanding that the county director of education and principal of Sacred Heart Mukumu Girls High School be transferred for being negligent in their responsibilities which entail protecting learners from harm,” said Dr Khalwale.
He was responding to accusations by Bishop Obanyi who on Friday last week faulted Dr Khalwlale and the Woman Representative Ms Elsie Muhanda for pushing for the closure of the school after the outbreak.
The school was closed indefinitely on April 3 by Western Region Director of Education Jared Obiero.
Mr who was accompanied by Mr Khalwale and Ms Muhanda to effect the closure of the learning institution.
“We are appealing to Bishop Obanyi whom we respect but on matters of running the school and the death of the students, we beg to differ with him. He cannot wave the card of being the owner of the school and give the impression that the principal should be pardoned.
“He should stop defending the principal and allow the school to be run professionally,” said Dr Khalwale.
The senator further claimed the cereals in the school store should be destroyed since they had been contaminated by a chemical used as a preservative. The disease outbreak at the school was linked to food and water poisoning.
“The storekeeper told us when we visited the school store that they had used a chemical to preserve the grains. But when the maize is milled and there is an excessive amount of the chemical in the flour, that could trigger side effects on the learners which include food poisoning,” said Dr Khalwale.
He also called on members of the school board of management to resign from their positions for failing to act during the outbreak of the disease at the school.
“We are appealing to members of the school board to re-examine their conscience, talk to themselves and resign because they should have been the first people to call for the sacking of the principal but they did not,” said Mr Khalwale.
During an inspection of the school on April 5, Education Principal Secretary Belio Kipsang who was accompanied by Health Cabinet Secretary Ms Susan Nakhumicha warned that action would be taken against any officer found to have been negligent in their responsibilities, leading to the death of the two learners.
Mr Kipsang and Ms Nakhumicha faulted the management of Sacred Heart Mukumu Girls High School for failing to maintain proper hygiene in the kitchen and dining hall, exposing learners to infections.
The PS said a multi-agency team would visit the school to carry out an inspection and compile a report on how the situation should be improved.
“If we find any officer did not do their work properly, I want to assure you that action will be taken against them,” said Mr Kipsang after visiting a water borehole suspected to be the source of the contaminated water at the school.
