What should have been a routine Thursday morning return to school after the half-term break descended into absolute terror at Chemelil Sugar Academy in Kisumu County.
In broad daylight, a gang of roughly twenty armed men stormed the institution, unleashing a wave of violence against teachers, parents, and workers before vanishing into the surrounding area.
Witnesses described a scene of immediate confusion as the attackers breached the perimeter, wielding pangas, clubs, rungus, and bows. Security guard Lynus Too was among the first to confront the gang at the entrance. “They slapped me with a panga on my back, then they pushed the gate,” Too recalled. “They cut my bicycle tyres before descending on parents and teachers.”
Moments earlier, parents dropping off their children had noticed unfamiliar young men loitering outside the gates, but nothing suggested that an attack was imminent. The situation deteriorated instantly when staff members questioned the group’s presence. “We started asking them, ‘How can we help you?’ Then all of a sudden they became furious,” said Judith Ochido, a teacher at the academy. “They started hitting the gate with pangas… Then we started running for our lives.”
The assault triggered a frantic stampede. Teachers who had spent the morning welcoming students suddenly found themselves fleeing through nearby sugarcane fields or scrambling over fences. Others locked themselves inside offices as the gang ransacked the administration block, vandalizing workspace, breaking into offices, and robbing staff of cash, mobile phones, and other valuables.
The terror inside the buildings was mirrored by the chaos in the fields. “I found my way out of school. I even don’t know how I escaped. I was inside a sugarcane plantation,” Ms. Ochido said, noting that one of her colleagues had been severely slashed on the arm. Another teacher, Vincent Adenya, found himself trapped inside the staffroom, surrounded by seven armed men. Even after police arrived and secured the compound, the trauma lingered. Teacher Agumba Agumba spent over half an hour hiding in the sugarcane stalks, only emerging when he heard the sound of police teargas canisters being fired. “I’m still scared,” he admitted. “I don’t know if I’ll spend the night at the teachers’ quarters… I don’t know if they’ll return.”
Parents were not spared either. Felix Opiyo, who was near the gate with his child when the horde arrived, sustained injuries to his arm and leg. “Thank God, myself and two teachers managed to run and found a place in the sugarcane for one hour,” Opiyo said, pointing to his torn trousers.
According to the school’s principal, Abisai Samora, at least ten people were injured in the melee, including teachers, a parent, the school bursar, and a supplier. Four of the victims were treated and discharged from Nyang’oma Hospital, while others sought emergency care at neighboring health facilities.
While police have launched an official investigation, the brazen daylight raid comes against the backdrop of a bitter, long-running dispute over the management and ownership of the academy following the leasing of the parent firm, Chemelil Sugar Company. Just a week prior, on June 11, 2026, parents had held a special general meeting and resolved that the academy should be managed independently under the Chemelil Educational Registered Trustees, rather than through Chemelil Sugar Company 2025 Ltd.
Earlier this year, Agriculture Principal Secretary Dr. Kipronoh Rono had ruled that the academy was excluded from the sugar mill’s lease agreement and should operate independently. Although a taskforce was formed to establish a new governance framework, its findings have yet to be implemented. School officials stopped short of directly blaming the management feud for Thursday’s bloodshed, but acknowledged that tensions have simmered for months. “We are not very clear what they wanted,” Principal Samora stated. “We are not so sure what their motive was.”
