Drama ensued on Thursday, April 1,0 during the National Drama Festivals at Melvin Jones Lions Academy in Nakuru County after Butere Girls refused to perform their play and walked off the main stage.
The students who were set to perform the controversial ‘Echoes of War’ play demanded for the presence of former UDA Secretary General Cleophas Malala who is their director of the play.
In a video seen by Nairobileo.co.ke, the girls could be seen running as they shouted “we want our director”.
One of the Butere Girls students also cited police harassment and a poor stage setup for their play.
“We were harassed by the police, they took us to the stage with nothing. We sang our national anthem and said we are not going to perform,” one of the girls stated.
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This comes after Malala was arrested by police officers on Wednesday night as he attempted to join the Butere girls students for final rehearsals ahead of their performance.
Speaking at the scene, Malala maintained that the High Court had granted him the right to direct the play.
“The High Court has allowed me to direct the play; they are performing tomorrow morning, and other directors are already here. You have to respect the court order because it gives me a mandate to train the children, so you are denying the children their right.
"If you want to arrest me, then say why are you arresting me because I'm implementing the court order,” said Malala.
Following his arrest, former Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua condemned the arrest and described the incident as an attack on artistic freedom.
"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,” Gachagua stated.
