Senator Malalah and Dennis Itumbi calls for reinstatement of Lwak and Ogande Girls’ to schools drama fete

Deputy Minority Leader Hon Cleophas Malalah (centre) with his production team when he wrote and directed Butere Girls High School play Shackles of Doom. GEORGE ORIDO

The newly elected Deputy Leader of the Senate Hon Cleophas Malalah has added his voice to calls to reinstate plays arbitrarily sanctioned by the Nyanza education officials saying the move was unconstitutional.

“It’s with a lot of discomfiture that I received the news about the banning of a dance by Lwak Girls and Ogande Girls. This news brought back the regrettable memories of the banning of Shackles of Doom by Butere Girls,” he said in a statement set to the press.

He cited Article 53 (2) of the Constitution of Kenya that puts the child’s interest at the heart of every decision made that affect the Kenyan children.

“The organisers and the committee should work out a formula which may include arranging for the adjudication of the two schools with a view of ranking them and allowing them to showcase their talents at the National Drama Festival,” he proposes with the alternative of allowing the children to showcase their items at the nationals under the Vision 2010 direct entry slots so that the children are not unjustly victimized.

Deputy Minority Leader in Senate Hon Cleophas Malalah and Director Digital and Diaspora Dennis Itumbi join students of Kenya Institute of Mass Communication (KIMC) during the ongoing rehearsals

 

At the same time the Director of Digital and Diaspora at the Presidency Mr. Dennis Itumbi has also added support to calls to allow the two schools be given an opportunity to perform at the Nationals to be held from April 3 to 13 in Nairobi.

“I have carefully read through the Lwak Girls’ issue and I think they should be given their chance on stage,” said Mr Itumbi, a product of the festival now in its 59th year.

Mr. Malalah, a playwright and director for the Kenyan Schools and Colleges Drama Festival himself noted that that the folly of the adult should not in any way be meted on the child.

“The Committee is therefore put to strict proof that the child were in the wrong. If they fail to do so, punitive action should be meted on them without fear or favour,” he said.

The Senator for Kakamega stated that it’s illegal for the said committee to purport to deny the children their legal right to participate in artistic and cultural activities, for whatever reason.

 “A child shall be entitled to leisure, play and participation in cultural and artistic activities,” he said quoting Section 17 of the Children Act of 2001.

He warned that no authority, including the Nyanza Drama Committee can take away a legal entitlement of the children by unilateral and illegal decision.

“Drama is a means of passing information. It’s a tool for learning. It’s a means of education for the child. As a means of education, it’s safeguarded under the law,” he stated in the terse statement.

Mr. Malalah noted that the Nyanza Region Drama Committee is the representative of the government in the running of the festival.

“I want to state it here, that as such, they miserably failed the Kenyan child by allowing auxiliary issues to cloud the primary role – which is to make sure the best interest of the child, is upheld,” he concluded.