RE: HOW SAFE WILL THE SCHOOLS BE??

Dear Countrymen,

KENYA SCHOOL OPENING – A DILEMMA??

The opening of schools in Kenya has been pushed to January 14th & 15th, 2008.

The reason behind this postponement being the transport difficulty and the ongoing upheavals in some parts of the country. It actually may turn out to be the biggest sticking point in the current post election upheaval.

The matter is further compounded by the grinding operation of the banking sector and in some cases the system has literally halted. Cheques cannot be processed because the Central Bank has put cheques clearing on hold.

Some of the boarding schools have not purchased food stocks for the students at this point in time. Getting fresh food supplies for these schools is yet another challenge being faced by the school principals.

The knock-on effect of the electoral fraud is far reaching than initially anticipated.

Worse still:

Other than food and the transport safety, what security guarantee do we have for our children in the boarding schools? Are we not going to see cases of abductions and murders of students in schools as seen in African countries that have experienced conflict, neighboring Uganda being a case in point?

In situations like the one prevailing in Kenya usually open a loophole for other criminal groups that may have a totally different agenda other than civil protest. And that now complicates the whole issue from a political disagreement to breakdown of law and order within the otherwise stable social fabric.

We have known of cases where schools close down as a result of cattle rustling or land clashes. Now with this new dimension, this may turn out to be adding fuel to a smoldering fire. It is worrisome and is raising serious debate among the parents. Where are KNUT, KUPPET and Kenya Parents Association? This when we need to hear them tackle issues about insecurity in schools and the supposedly FREE secondary education that Kibaki promised, or do they suppose their only role is fight for increase in salaries of teachers?

Are parents ready to take the risk and put the lives of their children on the line? Or do we now need to withdraw the police and GSU units from their current postings to maintain the peace in different parts of the country and post them to the over 3,000 boarding schools all over the country? Or perhaps the army will do this and post an average of 5 soldiers per institution to use up our entire 20,000+ soldiers??

I personally will have to very carefully consider whether to send my son and daughter to boarding school 100km away from home. Their education, their lives or the trauma? Am still weighing the three choices.

And even for those children in day schools, are we not exposing our children to wanton danger by having them walk the paths or take public transport to school and back unaccompanied?

What guarantee do we have that our children traveling from Western and Nyanza are safe as they travel to Nairobi and other parts of the country?

What guarantee do we have that the children traveling from Central and Nairobi are safe as they travel to Western Kenya, Nyanza and Rift Valley to report to school??

What happens to the students who are part of the 250,000 internally displaced persons in the Rift valley, Nyanza and Western??

Have we thought this matter through?? Or we are waiting for disaster to hit us so that we can react? We better be proactive here.

Do we have the personnel and time to police each and very path, road, school, college, street, home, government office, leader, teacher??

What happens to teachers, tutors and lecturers from different communities working in different locations of Kenya? How do they get to their stations? What guarantees do they have for their safety apart from mere words that all is being done to ensure their safety?

Peace is precious and you only realize the cost once you have lost it??

This State House matter is turning out to be such a pain for each and every Kenyan. The perpetrators of the heinous crime on the people of Kenya should be ashamed of themselves and their political naivety.

Nairobi is not Kenya, and it is deceptive for anyone to assume that the seeming normalization of the capital city is indicative of the country’s healing. Not quite.

Other than Somalia, all civil upheavals in Africa are ‘acted’ out in the rural areas. And that is quite a big piece of space to police.

Goodwill and trust are the best policing service any day. And they are cheap or free for that matter.

Could Professor Karega Mutahi and Prof. Saitoti provide guidance on this matter of school opening and student safety? They have adamantly said this is not a matter that requires international mediation but is considered a small-time house keeping issue.

Sande
HR Activist
VIHIGA