The Kenya National Union of Teachers (Knut) has called on the government to change its approach on tackling banditry in the North Rift to allow normal learning and teaching to resume in schools in the region.
This follows the death of Gen. Francis Ogolla and other soldiers in a helicopter crash while on a mission to inspect schools marked for rehabilitation by the military ahead of their opening next week.
Mr. Malel Langat, Knut’s first national vice-chairman, led the union officials in declaring that “the death of the military top gun and other soldiers should mark a turning point in dealing with the banditry menace in the region.”
“The years of unyielding fight against bandits by the government now calls for a change of tact. The blood of the soldiers who perished while on a noble mission, minutes after inspecting a school to be rehabilitated, should be enough of a sacrifice to make the government rethink and tweak its approach to ending banditry,” said Mr. Langat in Bomet County.
Mr Langat said: “Too many lives have been lost over the years – children, teachers, security officers, administrators, clergy, innocent villagers and pastoralists among others – yet we continue to use the same approach as a government to fight bandits.”
“With the kind of attacks we have witnessed in the recent past, what is the fate of the schools that have been closed and where will the learners and their teachers operate from as a a result?” Mr Langat said.
He called for beefing up security in the regions using local solutions to end the menace and restore order so that people can go about their business without fear of attack.
Accompanied by National Executive Council members Alfred Rop, Alice Chepkoech Bor and Richard Lentayaa, branch executive secretaries Desmond Langat (Bomet), Willy Korir (Transmara) and Anthony Gioche (Nakuru), Mr Langat said reconstruction of schools and strengthening of security should begin in earnest.
