Fred Outa opposes move by Kisumu county government to relocate schools inside Kisumu city
Kisumu senator Fred Outa has given the county government a two-week ultimatum to put up a new perimeter wall around Kisumu Boys High School that it brought down to pave way for the construction of a street pavement.
Outa claimed that the move by Nyongo's administration exposed the institutions students, teaching and subordinate staffs to insecurity especially from the nearby bus terminus.
"This was a wrong decision made by the city authorities and the Senate committee on Defense and National security gives them two weeks to rebuild the wall," Outa who is acting as the committee chair said.
The lawmaker was speaking when he visited the school that has been caught in the middle of an urban renewal programme that is being pushed by Governor Anyang’ Nyong’o.
Acting KIsumu City Manager,Abala Wanga, hinted that the school, which sits on 105 acres of land, could be relocated from the central business district (CBD) to the Kibos/Mamboleo area where there is reclaimed land that belonged to the defunct municipality. The city’s beautification plan, is also likely to affect the Kisumu Girls High School.
Wanga was however quick to assert that the plans to relocate the school were still long-term.
Outa maintained that he is opposed to the plan to relocate the school at the moment as it will have a negative impact on the students' social development and growth.
"The school has rich cross cultural heritage which needs to be horned and preserved for posterity,"Outa said.
He wondered why the city authorities were obsessed with plans to relocate the school, when land had not been established and enough resources including finances, stocked to put up new structures.
"The demolition of the schools perimeter wall for me is not a well conceived idea and is a hurried decision before maturity," he said
According to Governor Nyong’o, a city should be commercially oriented and should therefore be run as a profit-making entity.
“Although a school provides social services, it gives the city very little returns. Hence it can be moved to cheaper land outside the CBD so long as there are proper roads,” he said.
The governor said the move would be good for the schools as they would have a more conducive learning environment, away from the noisy town centre.
