Cabinet Secretary (CS) Julius Ogamba has said the Ministry of Education is waiting for a report from the Directorate of Criminal Investigation (DCI) regarding the fire that led to the death of 21 students at Hillside Endarasha School in Nyeri on September 5, 2024.
Ogamba, who appeared before Parliament on Wednesday to provide a comprehensive report on steps taken by the Ministry to enhance security and safety standards in schools, said they are yet to take action on criminal culpability on the matter since investigations are not yet complete.
He however gave assurance that the Ministry shall take action against all those implicated by the DCI report.
“I want to give my assurance to this House that if there is anybody, including our officers, who did not do their work, we are going to take action against them. Both criminal and administrative, based on the report,” he said.
Ogamba noted that the Ministry is also undertaking an internal investigation to ascertain the school’s compliance with the requisite safety standards and will take action if the assessment reveals a failure on the part of its officials.
Earlier, the Speaker of the National Assembly, Moses Wetang’ula, challenged the CS to ensure those culpable in the fire incident are prosecuted.
“In such an incident where a fire burnt down a dormitory killing many children, one would have expected that by now, there must be some criminal culpability somewhere. Either arson or negligence on the part of whoever locked the students inside,” the Speaker pondered.
The school has a population of 824 pupils, the dormitory that caught fire housed 152 pupils – Grade 4 to 8 boys. 19 students died in the inferno, 2 passed on in the hospital while three are still hospitalized.
By Obegi Malack | obegimalack@gmail.com
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