Court Orders 10-Day Detention for 9 Students Accused of Multi-Million School Arson. Nine students from Miathene Boys High School in Meru County were arrested on Tuesday after a fire broke out at the school on the evening of July 16, 2024, destroying a dormitory. A Meru judge ordered the nine to be kept for ten days so that police investigators could investigate the suspected arson. By the time this report was published, the students were being held at the Tigania police station in Ngundune, Meru County. Confirming the incident, Eastern Region Commissioner Paul Rotich stated, “Millions of shillings have been…
Author: Nyanchoka
John Mbadi Oma Secondary School Property Destroyed in Early Morning Fire. Early Wednesday morning, a fire broke out at Oma John Mbadi Mixed Secondary School in Suba, Homa Bay County, disrupting students’ studies. During the incident, a dormitory was entirely burned, and millions of shillings in property were destroyed. School administration confirmed that approximately 65 students spent the night in the dormitory. Suba Deputy County Commissioner Sebastian Okiring told journalists that the flame broke out at 7 a.m. as students were in their classrooms going about their normal academic routines. As of Wednesday noon, the cause of the fire remained…
Petition Calls for Prosecution of School Heads Over Fire Deaths. A proposed law will subject head teachers to criminal prosecution if their negligence causes student fatalities or injuries. MPs have been petitioned to pass legislation to prosecute head teachers and school officials who fail to safeguard students’ safety. John Wangai, a public litigation lawyer, and Anthony Manyara, president of the Kenya Universities Students Organisation, ask MPs to pass a comprehensive School Safety and Security Act that spells out harsh measures. Penalties They want the law to include severe penalties for noncompliance with safety requirements, such as fines and school closures.…
Only Seven of 527 Students Return to Mandongoi School Following Banditry Raid. Mandongoi Primary School students in Kitui’s Mwingi North sub-county have been pushed out of school due to insecurity. Following the last Friday raid by armed herders for the North Eastern region in the Kiseuni village of Mandongoi, during which a boy’s arm had been shot by a bullet, most people and school-aged children fled the area for their lives. A visit by the media to Mandongoi Primary School on Tuesday afternoon revealed a ghostly school abandoned by students and teachers. The school gate was likewise locked, and classrooms were unoccupied. During…
Massive Fire Destroys Ngombeni Girls School, Affecting More Than 700 Students. There appears to be no end in sight to the concerning pattern of fires in secondary schools, as another dormitory in Ngombeni Girls went up in flames on Tuesday, September 10. Images and videos of the incident showed a massive blaze that enveloped the complex, resulting in losses believed to be in the millions. Kilifi County Governor Gideon Mung’aro confirmed the fire but assured the people there were no casualties. All 703 students were safe. “This evening, a fire incident occurred at Ngombeni Girls Secondary School. I wish to reassure…
Endarasha School Fire: Mother Still Searching for Son as Agony Grows. Six days after a fire at Endarasha Hillside Academy claimed the lives of twenty-one boys, Angeline Wambui, the mother of 11-year-old Robinson Theri, a Grade 6 student, is in distress. Wambui does not know where her son disappeared. One of Wambui’s son’s classmates’ testimony offers her only hope. The classmate reassured her constantly that Theuri and he were rescued together. His mother then picked up the classmate from one of the classes at school. Wambui, despite her occasional smiles, is in pain. Though the government claims all students have…
Kenya Power Rules Out Electrical Fault in Endarasha School Fire. Kenya Power has denied allegations that the fire incident at Hillside Endarasha Academy in Nyeri County, which resulted in the unfortunate death of 21 pupils, was due to an electrical issue. Witness accounts, including that of a parent whose son survived the disaster, prompted this response and suggested that sparks from a lamp close to the dormitory’s main entrance started the fire. Statement from Kenya Power In a statement issued on Tuesday, Kenya Power refuted the charges, asserting that their investigations found no deficiencies in the electrical system at the…
Mwalimu Abduba Dida: From Teacher and Politician to Prisoner in the U.S. Mohammed Abduba Dida’s family has asked the Kenyan government to get involved in his U.S. court case, in which he is serving a seven-year term. In 2021, the court found Dida guilty of breaching a restraining order and stalking and menacing his estranged American wife. Unaware that his visit to a prayer center close to his wife’s house violated U.S. law, Dida unintentionally broke the restraining order, according to his relatives. They clarified that, unaware that his wife also attended the same location, he had gone to pray…
Concerns Grow Over School Unrest and Fires in Kenya. Stakeholders in the education sector have expressed concern about an increase in instances of student unrest in secondary schools. Over the last two weeks, property worth millions of shillings has been destroyed, and some institutions have shuttered due to student strikes. These statewide strikes are disrupting learning during the key third term, when students prepare for the Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) exams. Students demanded to go home during a week-long teachers’ strike, which sparked the uproar. Over 100 schools sent children home as a precaution against potential harm to…
Impending Lecturers Strike Threatens Public Universities as Salaries Dispute Talks Collapse, The failure of discussions between the Inter-Public Universities Council Consultative Forum (IPUCCF) and the Universities Academic Staff Union (Uasu) over the 2021-2025 collective bargaining agreement (CBA) raises the prospect of a halt to study at all 35 public universities. Efforts to establish a compromise were unsuccessful, forcing Uasu to launch a 7-day strike. Secretary-General Constantine Wasonga will lead national officials in issuing the strike. The forthcoming walkout is Uasu’s second in a month, following the union’s call for its members to stop working on August 6, 2024, in colleges…