Shule Yangu Alliance Campaign partners wish to condemn in the strongest terms, the demolitions witnessed early today against Mwamdudu Secondary School in Kwale County, by a private developer with the alleged protection of police officers. The school was founded in 2013 as part of the efforts to address pupil transition rates within Mwamdudu community and registered its debut KCSE class in 2016. Despite this, the school like many others in the country continues to fight existential threats from land grabbers within our midst. In 2019, the courts ruled in favor of the school in a case against the private developer, that acquisition of the land by the developer was illegal.
Over the last 6 years, Shule Yangu Alliance Campaign has continued to collaborate with key government agencies with a view of safeguarding public-school spaces from such atrocities. While notable progress has been made, the unfortunate happenstances at Mwamdudu Secondary are a constant reminder that we are still a long way from winning this war.
The school demolition, which happened less than a week away from school reopening literally brought down every structure built on the school. This includes four classrooms, an administration block, two laboratories, cooking & sanitary units. Similarly, homes belonging to community members living around the school were demolished. As such, the demolition is at best, unsanctioned.
It is sad that while multi-agency efforts are ongoing to safeguard schools across the country, actors within the same government are hell-bent on wiping the memory of Mwamdudu Secondary, among others. This defeats the whole purpose of protecting schools and upholding the constitutional right to education for every Kenyan child. SYA will not relent in our pursuit for justice for Mwamdudu Secondary and the affected community, as well as similar public schools across the country fighting to reclaim their spaces.
We therefore call on the relevant public institutions namely the Ministry of Education, the National Lands Commission (NLC), the Multi-Agency Working Group on School titling, and the County Government of Kwale to take the necessary action in defense of Mwamdudu Secondary School. Specifically, we urge the Ministry to publicly condemn this demolition, which comes in the wake of schools’ reopening. We also urge the NLC to invoke its constitutional mandate and support the school in reclaiming its land. Similarly, we demand a response from the National Police Service on the alleged participation of police officers during the demolitions, which are a clear mockery to the 2015 Presidential Directive that all public schools be titled.
For further information, contact Gerald Okoth | gomumbo@tikenya.org
