Caroline Mutoko: “School Children Have Been Demonstrating for Ages, But Only Yesterday Were They Teargassed”

I once again find myself on the same page as Caroline Mutoko.
Writing on Facebook yesterday, she gave a strong case on why it was wrong on all scales to teargas school children. She rubbished the theory that the activists were wrong to use the children in the protest, saying that students have been demonstrating for ages in this country without such an incident. Furthermore, it was THEIR land and THEIR playground that was being grabbed.
This is what she posted.
Spare me the feeble attempt to defend the indefensible.
Over the years and throughout the history of this great nation, students, teachers and parents have had demonstrations in school.
There have been demonstrations about school principals, bad teachers, poor grades, ghosts in dormitories (nkt), poor food and even land grabbing… just like the case in Langata
Only today and in this instance have CHILDREN been tear-gased.
So spare me the B.S. This nation has a rich history of school demonstrations complete with screaming students.
“What were the kids doing there?”
It is THEIR school and that is THEIR playground.
WE DO NOT TEAR-GAS CHILDREN! PERIOD!
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WE DO NOT TEAR GAS CHILDREN:
Whatever the argument may be from the powers that be, this I know for sure and I’m hurt:
1. There’s a kid who started standard 1 today – this will be their FIRST impression of school.
2. In the chaos children run onto the road and everywhere – what if a child was hurt. There’s a highway there.
3. In a country where children are molested and kidnapped – what if in all the chaos they were picked by a nutcase.
4. In the chaos and the fright, there’s a child who won’t get home tonight – what will we tell their mother.
5. There’s a mother who much like me can’t believe her child was tear-gased – how do you un-do this?
6. How will these children ever trust a cop? This was their first encounter with our security/police forces.
THE TRUTH:
We would never grab school land in Westlands, Lavington, Turi, Brookside, Spring Valley, Peponi, ISK etc… but we are more than happy to do so, in the very places our voters send their children to school.
Worse still we don’t think twice about tear-gasing them.
I don’t how I will look my housekeeper, our security guards, the supermarket attendant or even the cops in the face today.
These are THEIR children we tear-gased today.
I’m embarrassed for all of us.
I’m sickened to my very stomach.