The national drama festivals took a turn for the worse on Thursday, April 10, after students at the National Drama Festivals staged protests, momentarily following the walkout of Butere Girls students.
It all started after Butere Girls declined to perform the controversial play Echoes of War amid drama and criticism surrounding the theme.
Butere Girls' students took to the stage around 8am on Thursday, April 10, but instead of performing the play, they sang the national anthem and left the stage.
Kenyans.co.ke has since learnt that the girls were denied a public address system that has been in use in the National Drama Festivals.
Further, while the girls were given the chance to perform the play, they were denied a string of other basic infrastructure meant to enhance their performance, like other schools, including microphones, props and other equipment.
In addition, the ladies were denied an audience for their play performance - a dynamic that added to their frustration at the nationals.
Videos of the incident painted a picture of despair, as the girls were spotted running away from the stage, demanding the presence of their director, former UDA Secretary General Cleophas Malala.
Efforts to calm the girls by some of the event organisers proved futile, as the girls staged protests outside the Melvin Johns Hall.
"We want to perform, and we want our director. It is our right to perform," the girls claimed.
Asked what happened to prompt their walkout, one of the members of the Butere Girls' drama team added, "We were being harassed by police. They took us to the stage with nothing. We had no director and no equipment."
Moments after the walkout, students from other schools joined their Butere Girls in protests, prompting police to intervene.
Amid anti-President Ruto chants, police lobbed tear gas inside Melvin Jones Academy, forcing tens of students back to their respective buses.
The controversy surrounding Echoes of War gained national attention on the evening of Wednesday, April 10, when Malala was arrested in connection with the play.
Malala, who is at loggerheads with the UDA party, has publicly stated that he was the one who scripted the play. He has since been arrested and is being held at the Eldama Ravine Police Station.
