Former Kakamega Senator and playwright Cleophas Malala has defended his decision to train Butere Girls' High School drama team at night.
Speaking in an interview on Sunday, April 14, Malala said the move was necessitated by attempts to sabotage the students' performance at the National Drama Festival.
"We had to train the girls at night because the girls had travelled all day from Butere. When they arrived at Kerobon around 4 PM, they were locked in a room and told not to rehearse. They were told they would perform the following day at 6 AM," he claimed.
Malala questioned the scheduling of the performance, noting that such early morning presentations are unprecedented in the festival's history.
"In the history of drama festivals, no item has ever been performed at 6. I thought this was a strategic step to ensure that Butere Girls are denied their rights to present. What kind of leadership is this that is competing with innocent girls?” he asked.
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Malala also responded to claims by Education Cabinet Secretary Julius Ogamba that the script of Butere Girls' play, Echoes of War, was altered stating;
"I wrote this script and I made a commitment even to the cast that I am going to give them a full script, and we will do very minimal changes. We had 9 adjudicators appointed by the Ministry of Education, they gave it a green light and said this was a wonderful script.
"At what point did they start seeing a change in that script? The person who wrote Echoes of War is Cleophas Malala, and the person who directed Echoes of War is Cleophas Malala. If they have a question about the content, they should ask me," affirmed Malala.
Malala's explanation comes two days after Deputy Government Spokesperson Mwanaisha Chidzuga sparked mixed reactions on social media after questioning Malala's presence in the girls' dormitory.
"Brother Malala, what were you doing in the dormitory of female students under 18 at night without the permission of the relevant authorities or parents?" she claimed in a video shared on Friday, April 11.
