President Ruto Gives Endarasha Academy Sh2 Million After Deadly Fire
The Mt Kenya Times 
President William Ruto
By: Joseph Mutua Ndonga
Worth Noting:
- While in China one thing was clear, he was receiving timely briefings from security agencies of what was happening back at home.
- His first statement left no doubt that he had been deeply touched with this sad and unfortunate incident.
- He consoled the parents and guardians of those who lost their loved ones and wished the learners who were admitted at various hospitals a quick recovery.
- As parents, we know that losing a child is very painful. The wish of every parent is to see the child completing education/studies and becoming a responsible citizen. Besides taking care of himself and uplifting the living standard of their families, he or she would serve the nation with commitment and dedication.
A few days ago, President William Ruto lived up to his word when he gave his personal contribution of Sh2 million to Hillside Endarasha Academy.
This was part of his efforts to help the school get back on its feet following the deadly fire that snuffed the life of 21 learners and left others admitted at different hospitals.
The President, who was in China when this heart-breaking incident occurred, has since been keeping the tab to ensure his pledge that the government will fully support the affected families is adhered to.
Reports indicate these families have not only received financial support but also in-kind and counselling support.
President Ruto’s gesture flew in the face of his critics who wanted Kenyans to believe that he had little time for the children who succumbed to the raging inferno. The fire gutted a dormitory that initial reports indicated was accommodating 156 learners.
While deploying a high powered team of top government officials to the school, the President directed them to get to the bottom of this matter.
Sources indicated he received briefings from the team before he flew out to Germany.
While in China one thing was clear, he was receiving timely briefings from security agencies of what was happening back at home.
His first statement left no doubt that he had been deeply touched with this sad and unfortunate incident.
He consoled the parents and guardians of those who lost their loved ones and wished the learners who were admitted at various hospitals a quick recovery.
As parents, we know that losing a child is very painful. The wish of every parent is to see the child completing education/studies and becoming a responsible citizen. Besides taking care of himself and uplifting the living standard of their families, he or she would serve the nation with commitment and dedication.
Turning to the affected families, Dr Ruto once again reiterated. We stand with you during this period of sorrow and grief.
The President also announced a three day period of mourning during which the national flag will fly at half-mast.
In the same breath, the President stated that he has called on security agencies to conduct thorough investigations and this should be done speedily.
Besides the affected families, Kenyans want to know the cause of this fire.
The President also promised Kenyans that this will not happen again.
My government is going to come up with strict school safety measures and ensure they are enforced to the letter and spirit.
It is worth to note that this is not the first time we have witnessed tragic incidents of school fires snuffing out the life of learners and students.
Most of the fires witnessed during the eras of Presidents Daniel Arap Moi, Mwai Kibaki and Uhuru Kenyatta burnt dormitories broke out when the students were asleep.
I remember President Moi had set up commission of inquiry to probe the cause of these fires and come up with safety measures.
But it seemed the recommendations were not implemented.
I am sure President Ruto’s administration will borrow heavily from that report and others including the one compiled by his government to come up with long lasting interventions.
The Endarasha tragedy was a serious matter that bordered on security lapse, one would therefore have expected to hear Interior Cabinet Secretary and heads of security agencies briefing the country.
This was not however the case. All of officials opted to issue separate statements.
This did not augur because they ended up contradicting each other.
For instance, I heard the Government Spokesperson saying the government will donate rice and beans to this school.
This did not go down well with the bereaved parents and those whose children were missing. “We are not here for food. We want our children”.
Ideally, one would have expected the Spokesperson to communicate the briefs from the CS.
The CS, on the other hand, was required to present to him some of the information he had from the security agencies.
The agencies would treat some of the information as confidential and hence would not allow it to be shared with the public. Reason? This is a matter under the investigation.
Initial media reports indicated that a number of children who had managed to escape when the fire broke out in the middle of night were missing.
Speaking when he visited the school, Interior CS Kithure Kindiki stated. We believe that these children left the school premises and got accommodated by the neighbors.
As a government, we want to ensure all the children are accounted for. So, we ask the neighbors who have these children to return them back to school.
Initially, the confusion raged as leaders gave contradicting statements on exact number of missing children. This again exacerbated the anger of the affected families.
Generation-Z had also taken note of this and would later keep their word of visiting this school. They demanded to know from the government where ’70 missing children’ were.
GenZ visited the school a day after Prof. Kindiki stated that all children are accounted for.
For now, no child is missing. Police have confirmed this after conducting investigations.
Therefore, whoever gave you that information totally misled you. These officials were behaving badly and we are zeroing on them. Here we are dealing with very serious matter of life. It is therefore wrong to resort to politicizing it.
Joseph Mutua Ndonga Is A Writer And Social Commentator Based In Nairobi
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