A huge fire has been reported at the Jomo Kenyatta University for Agriculture and Technology (JKUAT) Main Campus at around 4:00 am this morning.
The fire has razed down almost the entire student’s mess and several retail outlets at the institution’s Juja campus. Hall 6 that houses the male students and the surrounding tuck-shops were on fire almost the entire morning before the fire was contained.
Luckily, no injuries or casualties have been reported as confirmed by Juja OCPD Simon Thirikwa.
See the images below.
This comes just after less than two years when another huge fire burnt down a section of the male hostel in the same institution. This has raised a few eyebrows given that the students had a huge riot just a week prior to the inferno.
Fire at JKUAT. No casualties reported. pic.twitter.com/hmsAiAtjMX
— Lord Abraham Mutai (@ItsMutai) February 4, 2019
Ironically, the students were rioting about slow response to fire disasters in the institution. Apparently, it took the fire fighters up to one hour to put out the fire that had since burnt down a big section of the hostel. In the meantime, the police were engaging the rioting students in running battles. No injuries or casualties were reported in this incident too.
This brings the total number of infernos in the public universities reported in the last few days to three. This is after another deadly fire was reported at Moi University main campus in Eldoret.
From JKUAT to Moi University Main Campus Eldoret on Fire. pic.twitter.com/3VpuknWUTi
— Cyprian, Is Nyakundi (@CisNyakundi) February 4, 2019
These incidents have raised serious concerns among Kenya with many indicating that they could be arson cases. This follows reports over about 20 high schools burnt down across the country in what was termed as lack of discipline among the students.
The cause of the two fires is yet to be established. The JKUAT administration declined to speak to the press about the inferno.
Could this be an arson case by the students? What are your thoughts?