The board of management of Butere Girls High School has not been dissolved following controversy over its play at the ongoing Kenya National Schools and Colleges Drama and Film Festival.
The cabinet secretary for Education Julius Ogamba on Friday dismissed the claims on social media as fake news.
Mr Ogamba was addressing the press at Ichuni Girls High School in Kisii County during a prize giving day for Nyaribari Masaba Constituency teachers.
“That is a fake story. Sometimes people write things then attribute it to people. I was in Mombasa, I have not banned anybody. You cannot just wake up and ban an organisation that is established. They are in office as we speak and will have a meeting on Monday,” he said.
On Thursday, learners from Butere Girls High School failed to perform the play, 'Echoes of War' over what they termed as frustration and denial of access to their director. The writer and director of the play is former Kakamega senator Cleophas Malala.
The cast took to the stage, sang the national anthem and then left. The play highlights the role of the digital spaces in governance and the power of youth in shaping societal change, and with close parallels to Kenya’s current political situation.
Mr Ogamba blamed Mr Malala for allegedly altering the original script to include narratives that are unfit for children.
“The content of the play was altered along the way. That is how at the national level it was not allowed to proceed. When they went to court, the court allowed them to present the original, not the altered. Please read the order, there is a paragraph that says they were allowed to present the original,” Mr Ogamba said.
“It is when it was altered that now it became an issue at the regional level. So don’t keep going back to that issue. You can write and the students will be able to play. An alteration is not allowed under the regulations,” he added.
The petition before the High Court in Kisii was filed by a former student at the school, Anifa Mango. The respondents were the secretary of the Kenya National Drama Festival Committee, Principal of Butere Girls, the Principal Secretary of Basic Education and the Attorney General.
Ms Mango, argued that there were attempts to alter the script of the play and prayed to court that the respondents be compelled to let the cast perform the play in its original form at the festival.
The petition was filed after the play had been performed at the sub-county, county and regional levels and given a green light by the adjudicators to proceed to the national festival.
Mr Ogamba said that Mr Malala, the former secretary general of UDA party, was not only the playwright but also the director of the play, contrary to regulations.
However, an adjudication and comments sheet presented before court shows that the play was directed by Ms Caroline Okumu and produced by Ms Jennifer Omondi.
Through Ms Mango’s petition, the ban was lifted with the court ordering that the students be allowed to perform at the National level and that the cast and the teachers participating be provided with adequate security during the festival.
"According to the regulations, you can get a script from anybody but you cannot be the one directing or training the students for that particular play. The disconnect was not that (Mr) Malala had done the play, it is that he wanted to be the one directing, which is against the regulations,” said Mr Ogamba.
On the fracas that ensued in Nakuru and teargassing of students, the CS said that he was in Mombasa and has no clear understanding of what transpired.
“I cannot tell you for sure that I understand exactly what happened during police intervention but if teargas was unleashed, then that was unfortunate. Of course the students were in the hall (during the incident).”
