Dennis Itumbi, the Head of Presidential Special Projects and Creative Economy, has issued a public apology to Butere Girls High School drama students for the police action against them after they declined to perform their ‘Echoes of War’ play at the national festivals following the controversial arrest of their playwright, Cleophas Malala the previous night.
The controversial play, which faced resistance from the State and failed to see the light of day at the national drama festivals, delves into themes of bad governance, blatant disregard for the law, and the widening gap between the youth and the older generation.
Police officers lobbed tear gas at the Butere Girls students as they left the festivals held at Kirobon Girls High School in Nakuru, leading to public uproar.
Itumbi, while issuing an apology on behalf of the government when he spoke on Citizen TV’s JKLive show on Wednesday night, said the violence meted on the high school students was unnecessary.
He went ahead to assure the sector stakeholders that the government will go back to the drawing board and seek solutions to avoid a repeat of such incidents in the near future.
He further dismissed reports on social media that teachers at the institution, most notably the principal, have been reprimanded or transferred by the State for their complicity in allowing the play to be staged by the students.
Itumbi noted that the school principal only has two months left before proceeding on retirement, adding that the government would not seek to punish her at this stage in her career, and will rather let her serve out the rest of her term uninterrupted.
“Let me take this with the full honour of government and apologise to all the girls of Butere Girls who must be watching his conversation for the teargas that was meted on them. I sincerely apologise to you, and with my apology comes the full force of government because I represent that sector of government of creative economy,” he said.
“We’re not only sorry for that teargas, but are also sorry for not managing this to the very end. I promise you that I will sit back with my team and we will come back with remedies on what can be done. We’re sorry that we missed out on the most important and consequential act at the national level, which is wat I know students worked so hard to get to.”
Itumbi added: “There’s absolutely no retribution (against the teachers), that’s a social media creation. In fact the principal, if my facts are correct, last time I checked, is retiring in two months. She has had an outstanding career, we’ll allow her to finish her call of duty.”
