BUTERE GIRLS WALK OFF STAGE IN PROTEST AT NATIONAL DRAMA FESTIVALS

Butere Girls High School students stood motionless on Thursday morning at the Kenya National Drama Festival to stage their much-anticipated Echoes of War performance before they walked off in protest.

As the girls took their positions at 8:00 AM in Lions Primary School, Nakuru, they discovered the public address system, an essential festival fixture, had been inexplicably denied to them.

For three weeks leading to the performance, the students found themselves abandoned their directors who vanished and their rehearsals nonexistent. When showtime arrived, they faced an auditorium deliberately kept empty, their powerful political commentary on Kenya’s governance and the Gen Z protests destined for no ears but their own.

The media blackout was equally comprehensive. Festival organisers barred journalists from the venue while KICD technicians were ordered to power down their cameras, ensuring no record would exist of what might have been. 

This suppression followed Wednesday’s dramatic confrontation when police intercepted playwright Cleophas Malala, the former Kakamega Senator, threatening arrest as he attempted to reach his students. 

Echoes of War faced abrupt disqualification during the Western Region Drama Festivals before a High Court intervention reinstated it, mandating its inclusion in the national showcase.