A tweet claiming that the High Court of Kenya has suspended the partial reopening of schools until a case filed by activist Okiya Omtata is heard.
Background
Mr Omtatah is the executive director of Kenyans for Justice and Development (KEJUDE) Trust and has made a name for himself filing petitions on matters of public interest.
Education Cabinet Secretary George Magoha announced the re-opening of public and private schools following six months of closure ordered as a measure to limit the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic.
In the October 6 statement, CS Magoha says the progressive re-opening of schools will begin with students in Grade Four, Class Eight and Form Four, who are expected back in school on Monday, October 12.
Verification
Since the announcement, there has been no other communication regarding the issue from the Ministry of Education. Nor has the mainstream media carried such a report as they normally do when there is a change or update concerning an issue of national interest such as this.
So far, the only news related to the same topic is the announcement that the government will release funds to run public schools beginning this week.
The tweet also claims that the decision to reopen schools has been suspended until the case filed by Mr Omtata is heard, but a search on the High Court database of cases scheduled for hearing shows no case challenging the reopening of schools’ listed. Further, Mr Omtata told PesaCheck that the claim that he had filed such a lawsuit is untrue.
Verdict
PesaCheck has looked into a claim that the High Court of Kenya has suspended the partial opening of schools until a case filed by activist Okiya Omtata is heard and finds it to be FALSE.
This story was produced by PesaCheck in partnership with Code for Africa’s iLAB data journalism programme, with support from Deutsche Welle Akademie.
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