Kibra community leaders condemn attack on Olympic High School principal over KCSE results

Kibra community leaders condemn attack on Olympic High School principal over KCSE results

A section of community leaders in Kibra on Friday strongly condemned an incident on Monday in which irate youths from the informal settlement attacked the Principal of Olympic High School over the poor performance of candidates in the 2024 Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education examination results.

Led by Kibera Kamukunji Pressure Group Chairperson Daniel Owino and John Miller, the leaders regretted that the decision by the youths to attack the school heads and teachers has dented the image of the community.

"We condemn in the strongest terms possible the attacks on teachers and the Principal of Olympic High School. This incident has soiled the good name the Kibra community has been enjoying and we are calling for the arrest of the attackers," said Owino.

The leaders who spoke to The Eastleigh Voice after holding a community peace meeting in Kibra urged the residents to use non-violence mechanisms in voicing their displeasure instead of resorting to violence.

"Use of violence has never been an option in solving matters dogging a community. We are urging Kibra community residents to always choose dialogue whenever they are aggrieved," said Miller.

Escaped unhurt

On Monday, Olympic High School Principal Michael Waichinga narrowly escaped unhurt after students from the school came to his aid following an attack on him by youths who wanted to eject him from the school compound.

In the incident, a vehicle and a motorcycle belonging to the armed youths got damaged as they were fleeing from the school compound.

Olympic High School was carved out of Olympic Primary School to serve the ever-growing population of Kibera slum dwellers. It is a mixed-day school categorised under county level.

Kibra Deputy County Commissioner Mohammed Abbas said there are some residents who have volunteered information about the attacks, thus enabling security officers to launch investigations on the incident.

"Some residents have volunteered information about the attack. We have had claims that the attackers' main grievance was that the school head has stayed in the institution for long yet each year the national results have not been pleasant," said Mohammed.

He said one suspect has been arrested while others are still being pursued, "We have had him arraigned in court and released on bond. We are expecting the principal and other school staff to record statements so that we charge those we shall arrest."

Kibra Member of Parliament Peter Orero said the incident happened immediately after he had finished launching new classrooms in the school compound.

"After I was done with opening new classes, some people, including youths and women later attacked the school principal and teachers over claims of poor performance in the national examination," narrated Orero.

He said upon inquiring, the residents were not excited with the fact that 37 students scored grade E while 96 scored D minus.

"Attacking teachers is not good behaviour. Demanding better results is not bad but resorting to violence is not in order because even last year there was a similar incident," said Orero.

The lawmaker refuted claims that he had hired the attackers to eject the school head to have a new one. "It is not true that I want to bring my favourite head teacher. I do not have the power to transfer teachers since that is the responsibility of the Teachers Service Commission."