Teachers visiting KUPPET officials under detention in Kakamega also arrested.
Tuesday saw teachers from secondary schools picketing outside the Kakamega Provincial TSC offices. When a teacher went to visit her coworkers in police cells, she was also detained.
One new member has been added to the group of Kakamega branch KUPPET leaders who were detained yesterday and are currently being held at the Kakamega Central Police Station.
Three union officials were taken into custody by the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) late on Thursday afternoon, marking a sharp rise in hostilities.
Furthermore, while visiting the jailed authorities, Wilbroda Shinanda, the Women Representative, was also arrested in an unsettling development.
Authorities conducted a manhunt for the officials, including Executive Secretary Harrison Otota and colleagues Damaris Kisiang’ani, the Vice Treasurer, and Livanze Mwani, after the principal of St. Monica Lubao School filed a complaint.
The Kakamega Central Police Station received the detained officials during their trip. Attorney Ken Echesa, who was with the teachers when they were arrested, offered his observations on the circumstances.
“It is difficult from a legal standpoint to argue with police officers,” he said, adding that the arrested officials chose to stay in detention until Friday morning as a symbolic act of their defense of educators’ rights rather than asking for monetary bail.
expressed optimism, saying that by this morning, all those who have been detained ought to be either freed unconditionally or taken before a court of law.
He denounced the arrests as a component of a larger government operation to threaten educators who are demonstrating in accordance with their constitutional rights.
In order to support his colleagues, he called on the teaching community to get together and make a big show at the Kakamega Central Police Station and then at the Kakamega Law Courts.
In closing, Echesa emphasized the critical nature of the situation for the future of teachers’ rights in the region by saying, “Let’s stand together in solidarity.”
Speaking to the media this afternoon, branch treasurer Mbati Mukabana expressed optimism that the four will be released by the end of business today.
The four will undoubtedly be released today since, in accordance with our republic’s criminal rules, the offenses they are accused of are really minor, he stated. “We are processing for our colleagues to be out and we have already struck a deal,” he said.
Teachers visiting KUPPET officials under detention in Kakamega also arrested.
