Parents of the botched Uasin Gishu Finland and Canada Overseas Education Program have temporarily called off their protests.
The parents have been staging protests in the streets of Eldoret town, demanding a refund of the money they had paid to facilitate the travel and study of their children in the two countries.
They had threatened to continue staging the protests even during the days Eldoret will be hosting Devolution Conference.
But in what they say is respect to the President, the parents say they will not be holding their protests this week.
In a media briefing on Tuesday, the parents however insisted that they will be back to the streets once the Devolution Conference is concluded.
“We have decided to call off the demonstrations, not because we’ve been paid but because of respect we want to give to the president,” said David Kosgey, one of the disgruntled parents.
President William Ruto is on Wednesday expected to officially open the Devolution Conference.
Reach out to Ruto
But even as they announced temporarily halting their protests, the parents say they expect the Head of State to add his voice to the issue.
“We also know that our President is aware of these things and we’re urging him to come and rescue the parents and students. We are asking and expect that he will say something while in Eldoret,” another parent.
“The Governor and Senator have reached out to us and committed that no money will be lost. We are giving room for the matters to be fixed. But for the local thieves within the county, we are giving notice that on Monday, we are back to the streets,” added human rights activist Kimutai Kirui.
Kirui has been joining the parents and students in the protests.
The parents are demanding up to Ksh300 million in refund they paid for the now controversial overseas program.
Each parent paid between Ksh1.5 million and Ksh3.5 million.
Their efforts to get a refund have faced challenges after it was revealed that part of the money they had paid was used to clear the fee balance of students already in Finland and Canada.
The county has since said they had started engaging parents with arrears to pay to enable students still in the county to also travel.
However, an argument that part of the money was used to pay for other students has been questioned.
The Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) and the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) are already probing the program.
The two agencies have since taken a statement from Uasin Gishu Senator Jackson Mandago and the affected parents.
