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The High Court has issued orders compelling Butere Girls High School Principal Jennipher Omondi to recall 50 drama students and facilitate their participation in the National Drama Festivals, set to begin on April 7, 2025, in Nakuru County.
Justice Wilfridah Okwany’s directive follows the principal’s decision to send the students home, allegedly after receiving a call from the State House.
Last week, Echoes of War was removed from the Western Regional winners’ gala, and the drama club was directed to send its members home by Monday, effectively halting preparations for the National Drama Festival in Nakuru.
According to court documents the students had advanced from the sub-county to the county level in the drama festivals thanks to their performances, including the controversial play.
However, after securing a spot at the national level, the situation took a turn when the principal sent the students home for the school holidays. Reports suggested that the school was replaced by a rival boys’ school in the region.
Chief Principal Jennifer Omondi released drama students to go home stating that she had received a call from State House that the play ECHOES OF WAR which highlights the plight of young generations across the globe should not be allowed to participate in the National drama festivals and that it would embarrass a senior State House official who is an old girl of the Institution.
This is despite the fact that the Play emerged the best at Butere Sub County level, Best during Kakamega County schools drama festivals and the best during the Western region drama festivals thus earning the first position to represent the region in Nakuru. The school, which was earlier scheduled to perform in Nakuru before the anonymous call from State house has since been replaced by the little known Vihiga high school which was ranked low at position 8 during the Regional drama festivals.
Anifa Mango, a thespian and an old girl of the school from Kisii county is the petitioner .
Acting for the Petitioner, lawyer Ken Echesa moved the court arguing that the decision by Omondi was arbitrary, illegal, Unconstitutional and in violation of freedom of speech, expression and fair administrative action. Echesa argued that the Principal could not act on imaginary directives from State House and that the school is bigger than an individual.
He further says both State house and the Ministry of Education had the illegal power to stop the play right from Sub county, county and Regional competition and that since Adjudicators of good professional standing had okayed it, there is nothing the government would do but allow the learners to exercise their right to artistic creativity.
Despite winning at the Butere Sub-County level and securing third place at the Western Regional Drama Festivals, the school was dropped from the festival lineup and replaced by Vihiga High School, which had ranked eighth at the regional level.
The decision to bar Echoes of War from the festival prompted legal action by Anifa Mango, a former student and passionate thespian from Kisii County.
“That the Honourable Court, be pleased to issue an order that the Respondent retain in school and/or recall all 50 students participating in drama festivals for their participation in the National Drama Festivals scheduled for 7th April 2025 to 15th April 2025 in Nakuru County,” said Mango.
Advocate Kennedy Echesa, representing Mango, argued that the principal’s action was arbitrary, unconstitutional, and violated the students’ rights to freedom of speech, expression, and fair administrative action.
According to Echesa, “There is no legal authority, including State House and the Ministry of Education, that has the power to block the play, especially after professional adjudicators had approved it at multiple competition levels.”
Echesa further urged the court: “Unless this Honourable Court intervenes and hears the matter urgently, the Respondent will proceed to illegally exclude the 50 students of Butere Girls High School from performing at the Drama Festival, which opportunity they earned fair and square through their dedication and hard work.”
This is not the first time Butere Girls has faced suppression of its artistic expression.
In 2013, the school’s play Shackles of Doom was initially barred from the National Drama Festival by the Ministry of Education, which claimed it depicted imaginary inequality and could incite public unrest. The intervention of the late Justice David Majanja allowed the students to perform, setting a precedent for artistic freedom in school drama festivals.
