Fire guts down a dormitory rendering 150 students homeless

Property of unknown value was reduced to ashes after a fire razed a school dormitory at St John the Baptist, Likuyani.

The school's principal Mwanyumba Tweni told The Standard the fire broke out on Tuesday evening while students were attending preps.

The cause of the fire is still unknown.

According to Mr Tweni, teachers and students later contained the fire before it could spread further.

Lost everything

“All the 150 students staying in the affected dormitory were not able to salvage anything,” the principal said.

The head teacher appealed to Governor Wycliffe Oparanya, Senator Cleophas Malala and well-wishers to help the school urgently put up another dormitory.

Likuyani MP EnocK Kibunguchy promised to allocate money from the National Government Constituencies Development Fund (NG-CDF) to the school.

The MP said the county government should also chip in to ensure learning is not disrupted.

He said the secondary school in Lukuyani sub-county was one of the best performing in the constituency. “We are calling upon the school and the police to start investigations into the incident so we can establish whether it was an arson attack or an electric fault. If anybody is found culpable they should be punished,” said the MP.

The incident raised concerns on fire preparedness in the region's institutions.

Jacob Manyasa, a parent at the school, claimed the entire constituency did not have firefighting equipment.

"If they had the equipment; the fire would not have destroyed a lot of property," he said.

Parents joined calls for investigation into the incident.