By Isaac Dan Bw’Onyancha
“When the state normalizes violence, the young absorb it as the language of being heard. The rising fires in our schools are not random acts but echoes of a culture sown by the KK Government.“
-Isaac Dan Bw’Onyancha
The wave of arson attacks in secondary schools, particularly in Kiambu where several institutions have been forced to close, has shocked the nation.
Many are quick to condemn, yet few are willing to ask why our children are choosing fire as their language of expression.
These students are not acting in isolation.
They are the same young people who recently watched their older brothers and sisters brutalized in the streets by the KK Government.
Peaceful demands for good governance and a fair economy were met with teargas, live bullets, and batons.
Innocent blood was shed without accountability. The state normalized violence as the standard way of resolving grievances.
If students now turn to arson, it is not because they were born violent but because they have been socialized into a culture where brutality is modeled from above.
Their actions, though unacceptable, mirror the lessons they absorbed: only disruption forces society to listen.
The KK Government bears direct responsibility for cultivating this dangerous culture.
By silencing youthful voices with force, it sowed seeds that are now sprouting in our schools.
The fires in classrooms are not just a disciplinary issue. They are a national crisis rooted in the normalization of repression.
Kenya must confront this reality. We need truth-telling about state violence, accountability for the lives lost, psychosocial support for our youth, and reforms that replace fear with dialogue.
Only then can we break the cycle of inherited violence and restore hope to a generation betrayed
–Bw’Onyancha is an Expert and Commentator on Governance and Leadership. The views expressed in this article are his and don’t necessarily reflect our position as Kisii Press Club.