A Nairobian Parent Sues Uhuru Over School Closure

• A Nairobian parents demands for reopening of schools
• President Uhuru on pressure on the reopening of schools

Enock Aura, a parent from Nairobi, has sued the government over the prolonged school closure on COVID-19 infection. The stalemate that has been ongoing for the past weeks has changed its route from word of mouth to legal action.
Since the closure of schools on March 17th, 2020, the Ministry of education has been giving daily briefings insisting that no reopening of schools will be done till January 2021.
Though the cabinet secretary of education Prof. George Magoha had earlier said that schools would open on September 1st, 2020, the Covid-19 cases have been on the rise, making the government change the stand.
“The closure of schools due to unfounded reasons has resulted in severity of pain and suffering by students, in tandem with the provision of Article 1 of the convention against torture,” said Aura.
In a statement, Aura has sued the state on various issues regarding the authenticity of data on children affected with COVID-19. He also told the court that the school’s closure was not done per the law and that Uhuru did it as a press briefing.
Further, the parent told the court that the President was to gazette a notice of school closure or table it in the parliament.
However, the decision on school reopening is a matter that solely depends prevailing circumstances around the COVID-19 projections, according to Magoha.
Aura claims that the matter at hand on school closure is a violation of the children’s rights in the Kenyan Constitution under the Basic Education Act, and the education sector cannot be neglected with unproven claims.
Enock Aura petitioned the Ministry of education to reopen schools on September 1st for the next academic term for a face-face session. He asked the court to order a proven statement from the Ministry of Health on the daily infections as the numbers unfold in the daily briefings.
 
On the task force committee of a 10-member led by Sara Ruto, Aura complained about the failure of making their meetings public. He also petitioned the state for turning 431 institutions into quarantine centers as a bridge of the Public Health Act.
“All the projected “mass deaths” of Kenyans in consequence of alleged infections have not materialized. In hindsight, the projected diseases and deaths were all based on wrong premises materialized and fantastic assumptions:” he added
Aura sued the state with claims of compensating private schools over the prolonged closure, which made them incur a lot of losses since they were closed. Aura also pleaded with the court to order the government to provide full compensation to his three school children for the psychological torture they have faced up to know.
In a conclusive statement, Aura said that the opening of schools should not be based on data of people who are not in the age brackets of school-going children but should squarely rely on the preschool children up to postgraduate.
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