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25 students held as riots rock Kisii ( Cardinal Otunga and Kisii High)

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Published on Saturday, 02 June 2007 05:57

Kisii police are holding 25 students of different schools following a spate of unrest in various local institutions.

Nine of the students including four KCSE candidates were arrested during the riots which rocked Cardinal Otunga High School on Tuesday night while the other 16 were apprehended after the security officers averted a planned arson at the Kisii High School.

The Cardinal Otunga incident broke out with the violence when students set fire to a dormitory, attempted to burn down the deputy headmaster’s house and caused extensive damage to the woodwork building before they took further rampage from the school to Kisii town. The students who were protesting against the sacking of one senior cook at the school amongst other grievances went smashing vehicles as they marched along the Mosocho-Kisii road at around 1:00 am.They were also protesting against resolution by the school’s board to fix the cut-off points for promotion of Form Three to Form Four at 600 marks.

The rioting students also claimed that there was insecurity in the school due to bad relations between the management, teachers and the students. At around 2.30 am, several of the Cardinal Otunga students sustained injuries as they engaged riot police officers in running battles in the local village. Most of them suffered dislocations of legs while others had multiple injuries caused by barbed wire.

At Kisii High School, the security officers managed to arrive in time before the students, who were reportedly protesting against the recent fine of Sh2,500 each after a strike, purportedly wanted to set the buildings on fire using petrol. By mid-day, Kisii DC Mr Osman Warfa, local OCPD Anderson Wambugu and the DEO Mogire Magara were still holding consultative meetings with the Cardinal Otunga High School’s Board of Governors (BoG) to establish the actual grievances of the students.

Separately, the students of Gusii Institute of Technology led a protest match to the DC’s offices demanding that their institution’s management refunds them part of their school fees for the period that they were not being taught by the lecturers during the nation-wide strike by teachers.

Meanwhile, there was similar trouble at Nyakegogi Secondary school with the students storming out of the compound and harassing motorists along the Kisii-Ogembo road. Following the spate of unrest, the Kisii DC yesterday urged the schools’ respective management boards to embark on extensive investigations into the students’ problems.