Butula Member of Parliament Hon. Michael Onyura has called on the Ministry of Education and the police to expedite investigations into last week’s incident where a two storey dormitory was burnt at Butula Boys National school.
The MP termed the incident ‘unfortunate’ and also urged the two institutions to ensure culprits are brought to book, “It is not an easy job to build schools and we are saddened when we see millions of shillings going up in flames because of unwarranted actions of a few people.”
He particularly condemned the Butula incident, saying it is a setback to Butula sub county, Busia county and Kenya at large, “This is a flagship school in this area and it admits students from all over the country. We have invested a lot of money in it and many students have benefited. Am also an old boy of that school and am not happy with what happened,” he said.
During the Tuesday night incident, fire broke out from the second floor of the new dormitory and everything that was inside was consumed.
Some form four and music students who were in school at that time tried to put off the fire, with help from locals and the subordinate staff but could not manage.
Property that was destroyed include mattresses and students’ boxes, who were on August holiday. The school principal Mr. Dan Ouma said they could not immediately determine the cause of the fire, which comes at a time when the country is trying to come to terms with numerous fire incidences that were witnessed in over one hundred schools across the country in a period of two months.
He also called on the committee selected by Education Cabinet Secretary Dr. Fred Matiang’i to investigate fire incidences in schools to speed up their work, so that Kenyans know what really happened. “We must know the root cause of all these cases instead of trying to treat symptoms,” he said.
The legislator who was talking to journalists at Bujumba, also advised school managements to listen to students’ issues and try to find solutions to them before they get out of hand. The Butula fire incident was the first to be reported since fire outbreaks started occurring in other schools in the country causing a huge loss in terms of money, as education stakeholders tried to find the real cause.
Education officials including education CS Dr. Fred Matiang’i, Busia county Executive committee member for education and vocational training Azida Ali and Busia County education board chair Prof. Stephen Odebero had hailed students and teachers of Busia county for ensuring that there was no single fire incident in the county.