Moi High School Kabarak Defends Suspension of Student Over Alleged Vape Possession
Lawyer Danstan Omari, speaking for the student, says keeping him out of school is illegal and violates his right to an education.
By Ruth Sang
Moi High School Kabarak is standing by its decision to suspend a Form Four student caught with a vape on campus. The school says it followed all the right disciplinary steps.
In court, the school and its Board of Management filed a Notice of Preliminary Objection, basically asking the judge to throw out the case. Their main point? The High Court isn’t the place for this fight—not yet, anyway. They say the student should have taken the matter to the Education Appeals Tribunal first, as the Basic Education Act requires.
They point to Section 85 of the Act, which lets people unhappy with school decisions appeal to the tribunal, and Section 93, which sets up the tribunal itself. Their lawyers, HS Law Advocates LLP, also cited Section 9 of the Fair Administrative Action Act, which says you have to try all the internal ways to settle a dispute before heading to court.
The school’s legal team says the applicant didn’t follow any of these steps and jumped straight to court, which isn’t how the law works.
They also argue that this isn’t about whether the school followed the rules while disciplining the student—it’s about whether the decision itself was fair, which isn’t something the court is supposed to decide. They add that the situation has already changed anyway because the student left the school before the discipline process finished.
Richard Rono, the school’s Deputy Principal for Administration, explained in an affidavit that the student joined Form Four, Class C, under Athi House on January 10, 2024. Then, on February 12, 2026, the school got reliable information that the student had brought a vape to school.
Rono says the device is used for smoking, which is against the school’s rules on drugs and smoking. After the report, the discipline department started looking into it and found that the student really did have the vape in the dorm.
Because of how serious this was, the school began disciplinary proceedings right away, following their usual process. They suspended the student temporarily that same day—February 12, 2026—and told him to go home while they investigated. He was supposed to return on February 24 with a parent for a hearing.
According to the affidavit, the student later wrote an apology letter, admitting he bought the vape near Capital Centre in Nairobi and brought it to school.
The disciplinary hearing took place on February 24, 2026, with the school’s committee, the student, and his mother all present. Now, the school wants the court to dismiss the case and cover their costs, arguing that the student should have used the education system’s dispute process first.
But last week, the High Court told Moi High School Kabarak to let the student back in while the case goes on. On March 4, 2026, Justice John Chigiti ordered the school to immediately and unconditionally readmit the student identified as M.L.A in court—so he can keep studying.
Lawyer Danstan Omari, speaking for the student, says keeping him out of school is illegal and violates his right to an education.
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