Echoes of Shame: A school play, and police at war with teen girls

It all started after the Butere Girls drama group flawlessly excelled in a play titled 'Echoes of War, ' sailing from the local levels to several other jurisdictional distinctions. Then, the government quickly took notice, and everything went awry.

Uncomfortable with the message in the play and the nuances behind it, some shady forces ultimately prevailed, and the play was subsequently disqualified during the Western Region Drama Festivals, all under unclear circumstances.

A drawn-out legal clash quickly ensued, resulting in a High Court ruling overturning that decision, reinstating the play and ordering its inclusion in the national lineup.

All appeared to have been solved until it was time for the contentious play to be staged on the biggest stage of all - at the National Drama Festivals.

As the play's scripter and director, former Senator Cleophas Malala arrived in Nakuru to help his team adequately prepare for the big morning ahead, he would be swarmed with swathes of heavily armed police officers and top DCI honchos who not only barred him from accessing the girls but also arrested him unceremoniously, hounding him out of the venue and hurling him into various police stations overnight.

His arrest was preceded by a tense interaction between Malala and some senior police officers who towered over him menacingly as he attempted to plead his case, demand to know his crimes and reason with the cops.

As it all unfolded, journalists clicked away, capturing every moment as it unfolded.

"Other schools are being allowed to train; why are you denying Butere Girls a chance to train? They have been locked inside there like prisoners," an exasperated Malala was captured on video telling a police officer outside Kirobon Girls High School.

Malala's protestations and arrest would be broadcast across all national TV stations, rocking social media and nudging the country to the downright deplorable happenings in Nakuru.

The situation would be compounded by the fact that the government - an all powerful entity - now appeared to be exchanging salvos with teenage school girls whose crime was to explore their talents, memorise a script and dig into their artistic selves.

Journalists, too, would be caught up in the crossfire as police lobbed tear gas toward hoardes of reporters, leaving them scampering, utterly stunned.

As residents of Nakuru woke up on April 10, the landscape around Kirobon Girls High School had officially been turned into a battlefield as police officers, in their numbers, were poured into the area, facing off with agitated students as others took to the streets in sporadic riots which rocked the internet, puzzled critics and hit the national headlines.

The government had succeeded in turning itself into the People's Enemy - squaring off with harmless students, disrupting a decades-old theatre gala, sowing seeds of discord, horrifying area residents and stifling the right of expression.

Online, Kenyans shared their views, with many expressing their dismay at the Kenya Kwanza government's hard-handedness and many pointing out that, over the decades, authors, playwrights and scholars have used art to express their creative sentiments towards the government of the day.

Mary Wanjau opined: "Oral literature has always been a mirror of society used to challenge, question, and educate. If ‘Echoes of War’ is causing this much stir, then it’s doing exactly what powerful storytelling is meant to do: awaken the conscience of a nation."

"16-year-olds are giving Kasongo sleepless nights? How can children young enough to be your grandchildren cause you so much trouble? The guilty are always afraid, and the wicked flee when no one is pursuing them. That a mere high school play is met with such heavy state machinery is a clear sign of the dark times we are living in!" Shirleen Mwanza noted.

Others noted that, over the years, Kenyan high schoolers have been made to study literature whose themes, imagery and ethos have been critical of tyrannical governments - books which demonstrated the powerful role of the arts in society, formidable tools for challenging oppression, advocating for justice and inspiring social change.

"We grew up with books like Kifo Kisimani, Mstahiki Meya, Tumbo Lisiloshiba, A Man of the People, Amezidi, Shamba La Wanyama and The River Between! These books were not about Cinderella dresses! These books galvanised young readers and audiences to think critically and act courageously," Robert Mukundi said.

When he penned 'The Open Sore of a Continent', Nigerian Nobel laureate Wole Soyinka fearlessly condemned the military dictatorship of Sani Abacha, risking political imprisonment and exile, further fuelling his resolve to use his voice and pen as instruments of resistance.

Dr. Mwangi Gichora, an influential voice in Kenyan theatre, noted that in the 1970s, the drama festivals became a hotbed of radical theatre. 

"However, as most of the scripts were written by or under the close supervision of teachers, the student actors were largely used as mouthpieces to put forward the teacher's opinion on various issues," he said.

According to a Wikipedia entry on the Kenyan Drama Festivals, the KANU government's suppression of theatre after the Kamirithu productions in the early 1970s and 1980s had serious repercussions for the development of theatre in Kenya.

Theatre was then viewed as a dangerous tool that aroused the people's political consciousness.

"It is worth noting that as KANU suppressed theatre in the country, they quietly rewarded those who ignored politics in their productions, especially in the school theatres," the page states.

Already, the students of Butere Girls Secondary School have endured a rough morning after being teargassed while leaving the Kirobon Girls High School in Nakuru, where the National Drama Festivals is taking place.

Naivasha East MCA Stanley Karanja, himself a former teacher and playwright, captured it best when he said: "The 'Echoes of War' play has actually been staged. Not by students, but by the police in uniform. They staged the play while armed with teargas and batons. The beatings, the teargas, the harassment of students and the trauma inflicted on students is the actual definition of 'Echoes of War'. The play has actually been performed not by Butere Girls but by the Kenyan police."

The government, unwittingly, has turned a play which could probably have gone unnoticed into a national (and maybe international) spectacle - not only has it awakened social media, spawned thousands of critical analyses and angered the theatre community, it has also brought into sharp focus President Ruto's disdain for criticism, while also further condemning his administration to the dubious chapters of despotism.

"Echoes of War" explores contemporary issues like technology, governance and social justice, particularly relevant to Generation Z, and the struggle for young people on civil liberties.

It centers on a nation recovering from a civil war, with young citizens at the forefront of rebuilding efforts, and critiques the role of digital spaces in governance and the power of youth in shaping societal change.