Students and teachers of Misikhu Friends Boys High School on Wednesday landed in trouble after a businessman impounded their school bus in Kisumu Town.
The group of four teachers and fifty eight students were on a study tour in the town, after which the businessman who owns a garage impounded the bus over an alleged Sh1.6 million debt.
Nillam Garage owner Nillesh Patel said that the school owes him the amount in debt after refusing to pay up the money following an initial repair of the same bus in 2017.
A student said that they had to walk to the town center after the driver left them at Impala Park to take the bus for servicing at the garage where it was instead detained.
“We waited but after being informed that the bus was not coming, we were advised to walk to the town centre at around 7.30pm, as the teachers made arrangements for where we would sleep,” he told the Standard.
The school Principal Maurice Otunga condemned the act, wondering why Mr Patel had to take such a move, adding they he is new and is not aware of such a debt.
“We have no documents showing the Board of Management approved the garage to repair that vehicle.
"I don’t understand why he had to wait for our students to come in the bus to Kisumu and then leave them in the park,” he said.
In his defense, Mr Patel denied knowing that the bus had ferried the students, and offered to provide a new bus to ferry them back but not the school bus.