Elections must not subvert the schools’ calendar and derail the next academic cycle, President Uhuru Kenyatta has said.
The President told thousands of supporters in Eldoret last evening that political interests should not be allowed to undermine the education of the Kenyan children.
He lambasted opposition leader Raila Odinga for saying ‘this year’s KCSE and KCPE candidates will not die if they do not sit for the national examinations’, saying that death and Kenyan children in the same sentence could only be attributed to someone for whom Kenya and Kenya’s future meant nothing.
“Kenyans children are important to us. They will do their exams without the interference of politics. They will join secondary school and go to college on schedule. We will not let anyone undermine our children,” President Kenyatta said.
He added: “And by our promise they will enjoy free primary and secondary education. They will not be subverted.”
Three stops in Eldoret marked the end of a day in which the President Uhuru Kenyatta and Deputy President William Ruto swept through Bungoma, West Pokot and Uasin Gishu counties at the start of a campaign blitz for repeat elections on Oct 17.
DP Ruto buttressed the President’s message, saying: “That chap is joking. Our children, 1.5 million of them, will sit their exams. We care too much for our children to allow charlatans to subvert it.”
