Tension gripped Aldai Constituency in Nandi County on Tuesday as residents staged demonstrations to protest a High Court ruling blocking the conversion of Aldai Boys Secondary School into a campus of Friends Kaimosi University.
The protestors, comprising locals, parents, and youth, demanded intervention from area leaders including Nandi Governor Stephen Sang, insisting that the decision denied the region a vital opportunity for higher education and economic growth.
“We want to tell those people who went to court to stop the development of Kobujoi that their days are numbered,” one resident declared. “We need our leaders the Governor, MP, and MCA to speak in one voice on this issue.”
The residents expressed frustration that neighbouring areas such as Kaptumo and Kemeloi already host major institutions like a Teachers Training College and a Kenya Medical Training College (KMTC), while Aldai continues to lag behind in education infrastructure.
In a ruling delivered on October 3, the High Court in Nairobi issued conservatory orders halting the proposed transformation of Aldai Boys Secondary School into a university campus. The petition was filed by a group of parents opposed to the conversion, citing concerns over the future of their children’s education at the school.
Governor Stephen Sang criticized the court order, describing it as “heartbreaking” but vowed that the project would eventually proceed. “The university will be built. We are fully supporting it because it will transform the lives of Aldai residents both academically and economically,” he affirmed.
Some residents also faulted the case being heard in Nairobi’s Milimani High Court rather than in Kapsabet, arguing that the location made it difficult for locals to follow proceedings. They urged all parties to seek an amicable solution to end the stalemate and allow development to proceed.
