Okayo slams Kindiki’s empowerments after exposé on Tharaka Nithi’s deplorable schools
Kenya School of Law President Joshua Okayo has criticised empowerment programmes led by Deputy President Kithure Kindiki after a report emerged showing students learning under deplorable conditions.
Taking to X on Tuesday, July 29, 2025, Okayo said it was deeply shameful that children in the county were still learning under unsafe and inhumane conditions. This came after video clips circulated online showing pupils sitting in dusty, roofless classrooms, some under trees and in partly collapsed, mud-walled structures.
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“Fifteen years into devolution we still have pupils learning under trees and mud walls. Some classrooms have fallen apart. Children are using stones as desks. What exactly are the priorities” Okayo posted.
He wondered how the second-in-command was distributing money in the form of an empowerment drive, yet students in a county he once served as a senator were learning under such conditions.
Politicians living flushy lifestyle
He added that while governors and top politicians hold expensive events “our young citizens are studying in danger zones” calling the situation a betrayal of the promise of devolution.
A similar message was posted by governance advocate Kevin Mwenda, who said leaders should be held to account.
“This is not just about Tharaka Nithi. It is about values. You cannot empower women with Sh64 coins while children drink dirty water from streams and risk injury in collapsed schools” Mwenda said.
Recent media reports had shown that boarding students in the area were fetching water from unsafe rivers. In one school students were filmed scooping drinking water from a stream shared with livestock.
DP Kithure Kindiki Attacked
Many Kenyans online questioned how such conditions could exist while the former senator of Tharaka Nithi, now serving as the country’s second in command, was seen publicly donating millions of shillings in churches across the country.
Okayo urged citizens to demand accountability and reminded leaders that education is a constitutional right.
“True empowerment starts with protecting the dignity of the child,” he wrote.
So far no formal response has come from the county government or Kindiki.
