How night of unrest at Rift Valley National Polytechnic went from bad to worse

Friday, January 24^th, was a significant day at the Rift Valley National Polytechnic, as it would determine the future political careers of the students vying for various student leadership positions.

According to a student Brian Kibet, all was well until around 5 p.m. when the results started trickling in, revealing a clear margin of victory from the onset.

“This election was a surprise, as the person expected to win lost. This did not sit well with some of his supporters, and a fracas ensued. It was around 5 p.m. when we started experiencing unrest in the school premises,” he says.

Brian adds, “The group that lost the election felt that the other faction had not won fairly, so some began throwing stones and destroying school property.”

He mentions that during the scuffle, he was hit by a stone but managed to escape with minor injuries.

“At around 9 p.m., we heard that some people had set the watchman’s office on fire, with part of the fence also being set ablaze,” he says.

Another student, Eric Langat, says that he was at a nearby shopping centre late that night when he heard a commotion coming from the lower gate.

“It was late at night, and I couldn’t clearly make out who they were, but everything happened so fast. Within minutes, the place was in flames. The unrest caused most of the businesses at the centre to come to a halt,” he says.

The Chief Principal of the institution, Sammy Chemoiwa, confirms the incident that took place on Friday night. He explains that the unrest was due to dissatisfaction with the student election results.

“The faction that was dissatisfied set fire to the watchman’s office at one of the gates. Some of the students also made it to the shopping centre right outside the school and vandalized some of the properties belonging to business owners,” he says.

The Chief Principal adds that things are now back to normal, and peace has been restored both within the premises and outside.