Education Cabinet Secretary (CS) Julius Ogamba has waded into the ongoing scandal involving Butere Girls’ High School during the Kenya Schools and Colleges National Drama and Music Festival in Nakuru.
Addressing the media on Thursday, April 10, 2025, Ogamba set the record straight the government did not bar the students from performing their play ‘Echoes of War’.
He explained that the students unequivocally refused to perform of their own accord, calling for their director, Cleophas Malala, whom the CS asserts lacks an official role within the school.
“We are very aware that the students were allowed to perform at 8 am, when they came to the stage and after the national anthem, one of them stepped forward and said they are not willing to perform without their director Malala; Malala is neither a teacher nor a director in Butere, so the students, of their own volition decided not to participate,” he said.
Students’ stance
The controversy surrounding the fictional play authored by Malala has continued to dominate the headlines after the dramatic turns it took.
CS Ogamba’s firm stance on the dismissal of the performance comes after the students declared that their decision to exit the stage without performing was not sudden.
Expressing their frustration, the agitated students noted that their conclusive decision was due to the series of frustrations in the moments leading up to the performance.
They also decried police harassment and added that they had been denied proper stage set up, sound systems, decor and support.
“We were harassed by the police. We went to the stage with nothing — no sound, no decor, nothing. So we sang the National Anthem and left,” one of the students said.
As the frustrations grew bigger and the patience to endure grew thinner, the students began demanding the whereabouts of Malala, their play director, before leaving the stage and venue.
“We want our director. We are not performing without our director. Where is Mr. Cleophas? We want him. We are not going back to Butere,” the students declared.
As they left the venue, police officers lobbed teargas canisters at them, leaving some choking from the smoke.
Malala had been arrested and taken into custody at Eldama Ravine Police Station before being released later in the day.
Speaking after his release, Malala claimed that 15 students had gone missing after the chaos that descended Melvin Jones International School, where the event was being held.
“Our cast comprises 38 girls. We have received information that 15 girls are missing. We want to know where our girls are. Police should produce the girls,” Malala told reporters after his release.