Sweet moment for pupils as State officials visit with promises and bulldozers

Nairobi, Kenya: The two-day scramble by Government to repair its image after police tear-gassed school children trying to access their playground climaxed yesterday in a flurry of visits and all-day action.

Children at the Lang’ata Road Primary School who had never seen senior State officials up close except, perhaps, on television, were suddenly overwhelmed as Cabinet secretaries descended on their turf in their full might, first with apologies, and then with promises and bulldozers.

For some, it was a sweet moment as only 48 hours earlier, they had been dodging tear gas and fully-kitted anti-riot police, reminiscent of scenes in the movie musical Sarafina, depicting the 1976 Soweto uprising in South Africa.

By Wednesday afternoon, they had been promised counselling to cleanse their minds of the nightmarish images of growling police dogs straining at their leashes and clouds of choking tear gas.

They also got a bigger surprise when they went to school only to find a brand-new playground taking shape right before their eyes.

It was as if the entire might of State House had been unleashed after President Uhuru Kenyatta lambasted his ministers and demanded answers.

First to arrive was the National Youth Service, dispatched with bulldozers to the school before dawn by Devolution and Planning Cabinet Secretary Anne Waiguru.

They brought with them artificial turf, sand and gravel and immediately set to work, creating an all-weather playground for the children.

 NAME OWNERS

Senior police officers who 48 hours earlier would have sent a chilling message, stood and watched the exercise unfold, their sleek State-provided Mercedes cars parked by the roadside in stark contrast to Monday’s scenes when panic and chaos reigned.

It was clear the pressure was building after Interior Cabinet Secretary Joseph Nkaissey told his colleague Charity Ngilu in the Ministry of Lands and the National Land Commission (NLC) Chairman Mohamed Swazuri to name the owners of the company alleged to be behind the grabbing of the school’s land.

He said they would face unspecified consequences if they failed to disclose to the public the owners of the company.

“I am asking Ngilu and Swazuri to reveal the owners of the company claiming ownership of the land by today (yesterday) or tomorrow (Thursday). Let the two come out clearly and tell Kenyans who they are because they are not owners but grabbers, failure to which there will be consequences,” said Nkaissery who, however, said he was not their employer to state the consequences.

It emerged that President Kenyatta had in the morning met Nkaissery, Ngilu, Swazuri, officials from the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission and CID director Ndegwa Muhoro and demanded to know the real owners of Airport View Ltd that claims ownership of the playground.

“It is deplorable the manner in which the police handled those young children and indeed action will be taken against the officers responsible. But what is more disappointing to me is the fact that we even had to get to that level. Where was the Ministry of Lands... where was the National Land Commission? Why did they not resolve this problem; what were they doing?” President Kenyatta wondered on Tuesday.

“The headmaster should also answer a couple of questions. How do you allow your students to go and demolish walls... what if that wall fell on those children?” Kenyatta posed.

The frenzied activity began on Tuesday when Nkaissery visited the school early in the morning to publicly apologise to the pupils for the police action and gave the developer 24 hours to clear the construction materials from the site.

But instead it was NYS bulldozers and tractors that drove into the playground in the wee hours of yesterday and began clearing the debris left over from the previous day’s battles.

PUPILS’ COUNSELLING

Also on Tuesday Ngilu, Swazuri, Nairobi Governor Evans Kidero and Education PS Belio Kipsang toured the school and stated the land belonged to it. President Kenyatta later condemned the incident and criticised officials of the Ministry of Lands and NLC for letting the matter spiral to crisis levels.

On Wednesday, Ngilu and Swazuri visited the school again at 8am with Ministry of Lands officials to survey the land and place new beacons. “I will personally supervise the exercise. We will clean the playground and ensure it is safe for our children to play on it,” said Ngilu even though the NYS personnel were already well into their work. Kipsang said they would send counsellors to the school to help the traumatised pupils.

Director of Surveys Cesare Mbaria said they would issue a title deed to the school and help put up boundary beacons to avert future grabbing. NYS personnel also constructed a fence.

“H.E @UKenyatta has directed MoDP to deploy NYS to restore Langata PSch Playground back to the school,” said devolution Cabinet Secretary Anne Waiguru in a tweet.

Officials said they did not know the identity of the private developer who had initially fenced off the land, sparking a protest that saw police tear-gas the pupils and activists.

“We have been instructed to clear the debris here, flatten the field and construct a fence on the field. I don’t know who was behind the initial perimeter wall,” said a senior NYS official supervising the exercise.

The children watched from a distance as the bulldozers flattened the field, with a few offering interviews to journalists on their Monday experience when police tear-gassed them during the protest.

Ngilu and Swazuri later drove along Peponi Road where they oversaw the pulling down of a perimeter wall on a land said to have been grabbed.

 

The directors of the company claiming ownership of the land remained a mystery. Lang’ata OCPD Elijah Mwangi who led the assault on the children has been suspended to allow investigations into the police actions.

He later appeared before the Independent Policing Oversight Authority, who are investigating the matter.