Airlift protests: Uasin Gishu parents call off Devolution conference demos
Parents of students in the Finland and Canada airlift saga in Uasin Gishu County speak to police officers during a protest at the Governor's Kapseret Sub-County office on July 10, 2023, demanding a refund of money paid towards the study programme.
Disgruntled Uasin Gishu parents seeking a refund over the aborted Canada and Finland education airlift programme have backed down on their threats to disrupt the Devolution Conference happening in Eldoret starting Wednesday morning.
They said Tuesday they decided to suspend protests out of respect for President William Ruto who is scheduled to attend the Devolution Conference Wednesday.
Parents, who are demanding millions of shillings they paid to the Uasin Gishu government for their children’s study overseas, had planned daily protests during the conference days from Wednesday to Friday.
They say they have decided to withdraw the protests in honour of President Ruto, but hope the county government will honour its promise to refund them.
The parents, who have held several demonstrations in the past few weeks, said they will resume protests should they not receive their refunds in a week.
“The President is our only hope and we are optimistic he will reciprocate our gesture to call off the protests and ensure we get back our money. He needs to come to our rescue,” Mr Edward Kiptek, one of the affected parents, said at a press conference in Eldoret on Tuesday.
The protestors had planned to stage demos outside Eldoret Sports Club, the Devolution Conference venue, in an attempt to compel the county government to refund them their money after it failed to airlift their children to foreign universities even after collecting the money from them.
In withdrawing the protest threat, the parents said they have petitioned the President to intervene and ensure they are refunded.
“We believe that the President will address our suffering when he takes to the podium. As parents and children, we are suffering since we sold our property for a journey that has never been,” Mr Kiptek said.
“It should be clear that our demands stand and we need our refund as soon as possible. The Uasin Gishu County leadership should own up to the mess and pay us.”
He added that they have not been coerced to suspend the demonstrations.
Disgruntled parents and students have been demanding a refund of more than Sh300 million they paid through the county for their children to study in Finland and Canada.
Eldoret-based human rights activist Kimutai Kirui, who has been at the forefront of agitating for the parents’ refund, said the idea to suspend the protests was well thought out.
“Let’s give dialogue a chance and we will back parents in demonstrating if the county fails to honour the one-week ultimatum. The county government has agreed to refund the money and we hope the process is expedited,” he said.
UDA-nominated MP Joseph Wainaina welcomed the protest suspension and called on the county leaders to immediately refund the money.
“Those who plundered the money should be held accountable because the parents need to be refunded,” he said.
