Head of Presidential special projects and creative economy Dennis Itumbi now says that Butere Girls High School has not been barred from performing at the National Drama and Film Festival in Nakuru.
In a statement, Itumbi affirmed that the school’s play, “Echoes of War”, will be staged, and he wished them well.
“There is a special joy in taking the stage in the National Festival. Student actors and actresses work so hard to get there. It is a cut-throat competition. Butere Girls have not been stopped from performing their play. It will be staged, as far as I know. Nawatakia mema,” he said on X.
His remarks followed reports that the play would not be staged at the Festival.
On Wednesday night, the playwright, Cleophas Malala, claimed that he had been stopped by police from rehearsing with the learners ahead of Thursday’s performance.
In a video clip seen by the Star, the former UDA Secretary General is seen in a stand-off with police officers led by a man he said was the Nakuru area DCIO outside Kirobon Girls High School in Nakuru's Rongai subcounty.
The school is one of the institutions hosting the Kenya Schools and Colleges National Drama and Music Festival.
The play was banned, and it only took the intervention of the Courts to have it reinstated for performing at the National Drama and Film Festival in Nakuru.
Butere Girls had been banned from staging their Gen Z-themed play on the grounds that its theme critiques the government.
The court, however, lifted the ban on April 3 when Justice Wilfrida Okwany suspended any letter banning or barring the school from participating in the festival.
The play explores contemporary issues like technology, governance and social justice, particularly relevant to Gen 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.
