Uganda: The Mystery of Schools Fires
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The Monitor (Kampala)
17 June 2008
Posted to the web 17 June 2008
Andrew Bagala, Rodney Muhumuza and Zurah Nakabugo
Kampala
Mystery surrounds school fires as three incidents since Sunday have brought the number of schools affected by fires in the last six months to 20, according to police. Police yesterday revealed that there were only eight incidents in the whole of 2007.
On Sunday, suspicious fires were reported at Buziga Islamic Theological Institute, in Kampala, and at Namalere Primary School, in Wakiso.
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The latest incident happened yesterday at the Kawempe-based Sunset Junior School, according to the police.
But for the 19 incidents that the police have investigated so far, crime investigators have ruled out arson in only six cases, according to Mr Sam Lubega, the police's deputy publicist.
"If you listen to the testimonies of the people, they all point to malice and competition in schools. In some instances, you find that the dormitory has caught fire but the school didn't have power at the time," Mr Lubega said yesterday. "Police were not able to respond to all fires, especially the fires that gutted schools in the districts of Rukungiri and Soroti."
Even as the police suspect that most of the fires may be the work of malicious arsonists, they say it is difficult to conclude that the trends so far point to possible terrorism. "In some schools the cause of the fire has been electric short circuit, which we classify as an accident, like in [at least] six fires in schools this year," Mr Lubega said.
There have been no arrests so far, and the police say there are no clues for the unsolved cases.
The most prominent incident was on the night of April 14, when a fire killed 20 pupils inside a girls' dormitory at Budo Junior School. Police refused to rule out foul play at the time, but parents and guardians of the deceased pupils are still waiting for the official police report on the deadly fire.
The Budo incident also raised the issue of students' safety in boarding schools, especially about the existence of archaic dormitory structures that make it almost impossible for students to manoeuvre their exit during emergencies.
Although the police have issued 10 guidelines that should minimise the threat from fire outbreaks in schools, in most cases such guidelines can only be implemented if the available structures are demolished.
The police say, for example, that schools should "avoid housing more than 40 students in one single open structure". And there must be a "panic bolt" on one of the doors to the structure, the police advise. No pupil has been killed in the latest incidents.
At Buziga Islamic Theological Institute, where a fire gutted a girls' dormitory on Sunday afternoon, authorities said the fire "started from under a bed". Mr Sulaiman Kigozi, who is in charge of the primary section of the institute, said the cause of the fire was still a mystery.
"I can't make any speculation, because we haven't got a grudge with anybody," Mr Kigozi said yesterday, refusing to discuss the possibility that the results would have been worse had all the pupils been inside the dormitory when it caught fire.
"Whatever happens is the work of Allah."
The emerging trend is that some of the reported fire incidents have happened during daytime, and almost all of them have occurred in dormitories--destroying property worth millions and sometimes causing death.
If the incidence of suspicious fires in schools continues unabated, it is likely to stoke conspiracy theories on who is behind the infernos. Although different security agencies are said to be investigating the fires, reflecting the intensity of the situation, the government has not yet pressed the panic button by setting up an inquiry in the fires.
Although there is suspicion that arsonists may be behind the fires, it is also worrying that schools have not taken extra precautions as more schools continue to burn even during day time.
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Some elements in the opposition have been speculating that the fires are the work of state operatives who want to drive national debate away from the Land Bill.
And some suspect that terrorists opposed to the government are setting off the fires. "It is not just happening in one school. As a parent, I am also asking: What is going on? Who's behind these fires?" asked Mr Kigozi of Buziga.
An investigating officer, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorised to speak to reporters, said that the likelihood of the Buziga incident being a case of arson was high. "That could have been arson, because there is no electrical fault involved," he said yesterday at the Buziga campus, where a team of detectives were interviewing informants.
School fires since Budo
On April 14 2008: 20 girls died when a dormitory at Budo Junior School went up in flames.
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On April 17 2008:A fire gutted a dormitory of Grace Day Care Primary School at Ntinda destroying pupils' property.
On April 19 2008: Fire gutted a girls' dormitory at Soroti Core Primary Teachers College.
On May 25 2008: Two dormitories and property worth millions were destroyed when fire broke out at Nsamo Mixed Primary School in Seeta, Mukono District .
On May 31 2008: Fire gutted a dormitory at Kebisoni Modern Secondary School in Kebisoni Sub County, Rukungiri District.
June 4 2008: A dormitory was set ablaze at Karangwa Primary School, Bulenga in Wakiso District .
On June 6 2008: Another dormitory caught fire at Molly and Paul Mixed Primary School in Makindye in Kampala but no one was hurt.
On June 9 2008: Fire gutted a dormitory at Blessed Secondary School in Kebisoni Rukungiri District.
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On June 15 2008: A dormitory at Namalere Primary School in Wakiso District went up in flames destroying property worth millions.
On June 15 2008: A fire caught a dormitory at Buziga Islamic Theological Institute in Kampala.
On June 16 2008: Sunset Junior School in Kawempe Division lost a dormitory.
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