For the last two months or so,Kenya has witnessed a catastrophic plague of runaway school fires whose sheer magnitude has never,in the history of modern Kenya,been witnessed before.
Back then,in the old KANU days,when everyone was a tyrant,from the President to the little guy at the village baraza,you’d endure a whole year without as much as a single story of a single school going up on flames. And when it did,that was NEWS – Kyanguli Boys,Bombolulu Girls, St. Kizito.
To get students to raze down an administration block back then,you’d have to have really,and I mean reeeaaaally, done or said something outstandingly crazy to them.
Fast forward to 2016 and kids have the audacity to whip up a flame over something as silly as being denied a chance to watch a European soccer match. Or being denied meat on the weekend. Or,really,being asked to solve some arithmetical dilemma.
Kids are now lighting up a match over anything and everything. It’s not like they’re even in school to learn anymore. Slowly,they’ve turned an institution of learning into some holiday home in Hawaii where they make and break the rules as they please,where they smoke a joint as they please and where they expect preferential,even VIP treatment,by their subservient butlers.
Kenyans have,for over two months now,watched in horror as more and more schools go up in flames without even an iota of provocation.
This whole madness started in Kisii County where students went amok – From Itierio Boys to Nyamache Secondary School,from Mochenwa Boys to Nominees SDA Secondary School,everything just went south after that.
As if on cue,the rest of the Country took up the burning affair as a challenge and the cancer soon spread far and wide – To Nakuru and Embu and Meru and Kisumu and even Nairobi.
All this time,the Education Cabinet Secretary Fred Matiang’i kept up his little tough talk – issuing stern warnings and addressing random pressers on this and that.
And to show him just how useless and grossly ineffective his tough talk was,the good boys of Nyamache Secondary School burnt down their dormitories THREE HOURS after the good CS had just visited their school and addressed them on school fires,indiscipline and whatever else was on his plate.
But Matiang’i still believes that he can run an education system like his private golf club. Matiang’i still believes that,out of the blue,he can extend school terms,shorten holidays,cancel school events – including prayers and parent visitings – and everything will turn out just fine.
Without bothering to consult or brainstorm with the Education Stakeholders,without even a warning or teaser,Matiang’i just woke up one day and overhauled a whole education system turning schools into something like an overcrowded Pyongyang factory where no fun is allowed,no games are allowed,no holidays,no events,no outings,no trips,no breaks,no weekends,no sports,no prize-giving,no prayers and no laughter is allowed.
Incensed by his move,that saw him turn the third term into a pure academic nightmare,the students found it fit to revolt. And you can’t reach these kids how to throw a good,riotous furor.
But even when faced with such a fiery revolution,Matiang’i didn’t pause to rethink his rules and to reorganize his house,the tough talk remained and this time,he vowed that the Government would NOT fund the reconstruction of the razed down dormitories. After,as usual, consulting NO one.
Now,there’s a new conspiracy in town – School Heads and parents are behind the rampant school fires. But it’s not been substantiated yet.
That now brings in a new horror – that a school Principal tasked with overseeing a whole institution and presiding over it’s sanity can be involved in the business of burning down his own office is atrocious and deeply unsettling.
And yet,that’s NOT an unlikely thing otherwise,try explaining why no students are getting burnt or harmed by these fires which are consuming everything in their wake.
But instead of toning down his vitriol,instead of taking a few steps back and analyzing his strategy,which clearly,has boomeranged badly on him,Matiang’i still wants to have the last word,he still wants to ha e the last laugh,still wants to come up with even harsher rules and regulations and still wants to impose an even stricter version of school discipline than he has already.
But with every Matiang’i pronouncement,another school goes down. And another. And another.
It’s now become the norm and we can’t wait for the 9.00 O’clock news to know the newest school to burn down their grocery stores.
As we speak,more than 100 schools have been affected by the wave of fiery protests in the past two months alone and a staggering more than 150 students charged in court with destruction of property and conspiracy to start fires.
Still, Matiang’i sees nothing wrong with himself or his tyrannical terms and conditions claiming that the kids are doing do as a result of a frustration over their inability to access leaked exams.
“Students who have been arrested and are facing charges have told police that they were protesting because they had paid for the papers but they have not received them,” Dr Matiang’i said.
What utter stupidity.
Immediately after this man was appointed the Education CS,he set out on his new role with much gusto and zeal storming schools unannounced to make random inspection of classes and take a roll call of teachers as if he’s some autocratic Arabian despot touring his secret nuclear plant.
Even the North Korean dictator has some manners.
Matiang’i MUST STOP treating teachers and students like his six-year-old daughters and wake up to the fact that you can’t just wake up one day and strike out so many things in so many ways and expect things to run as normal.
Matiang’i MUST stop running the Education Ministry like a Taylor Swift concert and quickly realize that he’s not indispensable and therefore,just stop the gimmicks and the macho showmanship he’s becoming notorious for. Not unless he thinks he’s on the set of the Real Housewives of New Jersey.
He’s just Matiang’i. A replaceable -and forgettable- minister in a Government docket. Not Freddie Mercury.
Everyone is now calling for his resignation. But he won’t go. Can’t go.
The Country has sank into a national crisis. But the man responsible for the madness,the losses and the disaster still sees nothing wrong with his edicts.
In fact,he becomes more deranged and crazy as the days go by.
Matiang’i MUST SERIOUSLY RESIGN.
One man cannot be allowed to sink a whole Education system just because he has an ego and a title ‘Doctor’ before his name.
It’s too late. And it’s gotten out of hand.
The President must know that this is NOT funny anymore. Because it’s not.
