Hundreds of parents and students who had planned to disrupt the devolution conference that is set to be officially opened by President William Ruto today over the botched Finland and Canada airlift education programme have called off their mission some hours to the start of the much-awaited event.

The decision to put on hold the protest until after the devolution conference came in the wake of a night long meeting the county’s top leadership led by Uasin Gishu Governor Jonathan Bii and Senator Jackson Mandago held with representatives of the affected parents and students on Saturday and Sunday respectively.

Confirming the cancellation of the protests, Kimutai Kirui who has been spearheading the protests to demand for refund of millions of shillings they spent on the bungled student programme said they took the move after the two county leaders assured them that the Head of State had accepted to intervene in their plight.

Speaking to the media in Eldoret, Kirui who was accompanied by the parents and students also explained that the governor and senator assured them of the President’s commitment to address their concerns in the shortest time possible.

“Indeed, we held a night long crisis meeting with the Governor on Sunday and also the Senator called us for another meeting on Saturday where they impressed upon us to call off the planned demonstration on the day the President is set to open the devolution conference saying they were ready and willing to refund the money,” said Kirui.

He said that it was out of the respect they have for the Head of State that they talked to the parents and students to halt the planned protest which they agreed to anonymously yesterday.
Shadrack Juma, another affected parent, warned that they will resume the protests starting next Monday if their demands will not have been met by the regional government.

“We have decided to call of the planned demonstration at the Eldoret Sport Club where the Head of State is scheduled to grace the event now that we have been assured of the refund of millions we spend on the botched Finland and Canada airlift programme,” said Juma,

The cancellation of the protest is a big relief to the organisers of the five-day event.

Enraged parents had vowed to paralyse the event to protest against the alleged embezzlement of more than Sh800 million by a section of the Uasin Gishu county administration.

A team of sleuths from the Ethic and Anti-Corruption Commission and Directorate of Criminal Investigations from Nairobi have commenced a probe in the matter.