Politics
Fourth fire scare at PM’s office
Anxious workers mill outside the Treasury Building after they were evacuated following a fire scare in the building on Tuesday afternoon. Photo/PHOEBE OKALL
Posted Tuesday, November 3 2009 at 22:00
In Summary
- Raila and four other ministers abandon meeting as Treasury building evacuated
A fire scare on Tuesday forced a high level meeting chaired by Prime Minister Raila Odinga to be abandoned and his Treasury Building evacuated.
Mr Odinga and four other Cabinet ministers were meeting members of a taskforce on food when a light bulb in his board room started emitting smoke.
The Prime Minister, Deputy Prime Minister Uhuru Kenyatta, Mr Wycliffe Oparanya (Planning and Vision 2030), Dr Naomi Shaban (Special Programmes) and Beth Mugo (Public Health and Sanitation) were evacuated hurriedly followed by other civil servants in the building.
Left venue in panic
The taskforce chaired by Dr Mohammed Isahakia, who is also the PS at the Prime Minister’s office is supposed to recommend methods the government should use to distribute food to people facing hunger.
Members of the taskforce were preparing to hand it over to Mr Odinga when they spotted the smoke. They immediately left the venue in panic.
The frightened ministers and the taskforce members all ran towards the PM’s office, which is next to the boardroom. Mr Odinga had just arrived a few minutes before the fire scare.
There was calm for about 15 minutes when technicians working within the building were called in and dispelled fear saying it was small problem.
However, when engineers from Kenya Power and Lightning Company were contacted, they asked people to leave the building right away.
It is at this time that Mr Odinga and the four ministers were evacuated. They were rushed to the VIP lift accompanied by their security agents and aides.
“No one seems to know where the problem is. And we have been advised to leave,” head of the Prime Minister’s Press service, Dennis Onyango told journalists.
He said members of the taskforce will hand over their report to Mr Odinga today at 9am. There was panic at the entire Treasury building, which also houses the offices of Mr Kenyatta, who is also the Finance minister, and Mr Oparanya.
It was the fourth time this year for a similar incident to occur at the 14-storey Treasury Building.
But in the other three incidents, sparks of fire had been spotted at the transformer, which is located on the ground floor.
Didn’t catch fire
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Submitted by nyaratengPosted November 05, 2009 03:21 PM
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Submitted by pimoni
Nangayapaa-I Could not agree less!Why is RAO so common with theatrics?
Posted November 05, 2009 11:27 AM -
Submitted by rofi
Ati there was a bulb which was emitting smoke and so everybody was evacuated... Yawa!!
Posted November 05, 2009 11:01 AM -
Submitted by Jogso12
Kenya will only be okay when I become President. From the time I was the Environmental Captain in high school there is one thing and one thing only that works well. Stick to the standards! in purchasing, trading and any other work and activity stick to the set standards. In Kenya we take this to be a European ideology yet we want to use the same things for which standards we ignore. There is a difference getting out of burning tree and getting out of a burning building through an elevator.
Posted November 05, 2009 10:32 AM -
Submitted by ensoko
It is comical that the VIPs were evacuated via the VIP elevators.Seriously,are Kenyan fat cats so important not to mind basic security procedures incase of a fire in a building or was it a security lapse.It needs to be investigated who supervised the evacuation endangering the people involved or are they so fat they cant run down the stairs.
Posted November 05, 2009 07:44 AM
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You see what products from china can do!!! fire fire all the time!