DEAF, BLIND STUDENTS SUFFER AS KISUMU CHURCH WATCHES

The Anglican Church sponsored Maseno School for the Deaf is currently in a deplorable state and if checks and balances are not put in place, then the multi-million institution might go to the dogs.

This is as a result of ineptness, negligence and total lack of concern and care for the once prestigious institution which has attracted students and pupils from the entire East Africa Community.

The principal of the institution is said to lack basic communication and managerial skills as well lack of respect for the employees who have all along been behind the success of the institution.

Efforts by the ministry of Medical Services through their Public Health division to streamline systems within the institution have been met with a lot of resistance as the principal is said to have pocketed all his critics.

The school’s infrastructure is in a deplorable state as the main sewer within the institution has burst spewing the waste into the students’ dormitories and the deaf and blind children who can not talk as well as see nor hear live in such a pathetic state and at times they drop food on the floor flowing with human faces and pick and eat the same.

The workers have no protective clothing and are forced to clean the sewer discharges with their bare hands, the kitchen has no firewood throughout and the staff are forced to fell trees and use it in its green state which makes the children have only one meal in a day yet the parents and the government which are also donors are not informed notwithstanding the tendering of goods annually.

The said deaf and blind children are forced to cross over the ever busy Siriba road to fetch water from the stream a kilometre away.

On learning this, the staff held a meeting after the pathetic situation had resulted into the children going on strike and presented the principal with a proposed long and short time for remedial measures to address school’s situation.

Rather than acting on the emergency stopgap measure, the principal opted to randomly threaten those whom he perceived were behind the said document.

The teachers are presently demoralised and it is a matter of time before they down their tools demanding the removal of the principal who is said to be related to a leading clergy of the church that sponsors the institution.

The Kisumu county education office has so far been petitioned to restore sanity within the institution.

Contacted for comment, the school’s principal a Mr Ngwaara told this writer that he should direct those questions to Bishop Mwai Abiero whom he says is well positioned to comment on such saying he is mere a figurehead and all procurement issues are handled by the bishop’s office.

“The car which was meant for the school is also being used by the bishop’s son who is, please talk to him he will answer all your queries, even me, I know the institution is in a pathetic state, but what do I do,” he added.