The Co-President finally met his match; @Cleophasmalala, who delivered a few well-placed slaps to knock some manners into him. Cleophas vs. Farouk.
#MalalaDealsWithFarouk
US Supreme Court: "Neither students nor teachers shed their constitutional rights to freedom of speech or expression at the schoolhouse gate." Hongera Butere Girls High School.
Last night, Kenya witnessed yet another disturbing display of state repression as security agencies attempted to obstruct the staging of “Echoes of War” by Butere Girls High School today at the 2025 National Drama and Film Festival through violent intimidation of the playwright, Hon. Cleophas Malala, in Rongai, Nakuru County.
A pure form of artistic expression, the play is a bold and thoughtful satire on the collapse of social services, entrenched patronage politics, and broken promises, reflecting the lived frustrations of our young people.
It must not be lost on Kenyans that this play was banned from proceeding to the national levels and it took judicial intervention to ensure its performance. This act of censorship evokes the 2013 ban of ‘Shackles of Doom, ’ also staged by the same institution and scripted by Hon. Malala.
This incident is not isolated but a growing pattern of silencing dissent through extrajudicial means. Just days earlier, a rag-tag militia unleashed hooliganism at a place of worship in Kasarani, where former Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua was in attendance.
It is ironic that peaceful expression is criminalized while violence by elements allied to the state is either ignored or covertly encouraged.
Indeed, Kenya prides itself on a robust Bill of Rights that guarantees freedom of expression. Yet, security agencies are deployed to suppress a high school play while turning a blind eye to lawlessness by armed gangs occupying public spaces.
This troubling trend signals a government that has lost touch with its people and is dangerously veering off course. The impact of rising economic hardships and growing public dissatisfaction cannot be resolved through intimidation and fear.
We urge the government to undertake an honest self-assessment and realign its priorities with its core mandate by shifting and consolidating its focus toward impactful policy interventions in critical sectors such as healthcare, education, agriculture, manufacturing, and infrastructure.
Providing a conducive environment for private sector-led economic development and creating wealth through industrialization will ultimately unlock youth employment, enhance livelihoods and ensure peace and stability.
The young girls of Butere are not enemies of the state but the daughters of this nation. Rather than be punished for speaking the truth through art, they should be celebrated.
URGENT PUBLIC APPEAL
We appeal to any Kenyan with information on whereabouts of Senator Cleophas Malala to urgently reach out to me,any other Advocate within your reach or to any human right organization.
Hio play ya Butere Girls inapigwa vita ivo na govt because if they win at national level they will have to perform it at statehouse na Ruto lazima askize. Malala ameamua he must bring the injection to Rutos doorstep kama polio vaccine.
"Echoes of War" deserves to be made into a movie—one we can all buy and watch, with the proceeds going towards educating the girls of Butere Girls High School.
Why not invest in protecting and empowering them in a country that’s already failing to keep our girls safe from femicide? #EchoesOfWar
The use of the criminal justice system to suppress creativity and social audit has reached alarming proportions.
It is a shame of unimaginable proportion that dozens of DCI detectives in five vehicles have been dispatched to arrest and intimidate Senator Cleophas Malala for writing a script that has won its way to the National Drama festival in Nakuru.
The satirical play - Echoes of War - that strongly captures the lying culture of this administration, is innocent in itself in the literary universe, just to explain to those who feel threatened.
In any case, the detectives will harass the messager, but the message remains; this action only creates more awareness of the literary piece and the message.
The attack on H.E. Rigathi Gachagua, EGH and the disruption of a solemn burial ceremony is dispicable, inhuman & backward.
In today's society, such scenes should not play out.
Feel encouraged my truthful brother, a time is coming. They will scatter in 1000 different paths.