Confusion over number of missing varsity students

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The government, however, gave conflicting figures of students said to have been rescued or believed to have escaped from the attackers, adding fuel to the speculation about the actual toll of the Al-Shabaab massacre.

Dr Omamo said the identification had been done through fingerprint matching overseen by 25 government pathologists.

According to the student union’s math, the student population of Garissa was 847, and not the 815 given by the government and the university administration.

Controversy erupted on Wednesday over the actual death and injury list of students from last week’s Garissa University College terror attack.

Claims by the University Academic Staff Union (Uasu) that 160 students, more than the 142 acknowledged to have been killed in the raid, remained unaccounted for nearly a week after the raid, were immediately discounted by the university and government.

The government, however, gave conflicting figures of students said to have been rescued or believed to have escaped from the attackers, adding fuel to the speculation about the actual toll of the Al-Shabaab massacre.

Already, the government has been criticised for its poor handling of grieving parents who have been camping at the Chiromo mortuary in Nairobi for a week now.

To add to the general confusion, Moi University Students Organisation (Muso) secretary-general, Mr Titus Safari, said 59 of his colleagues had not been accounted for.

Defence Cabinet Secretary Raychelle Omamo, addressing the press in the company of a large group of Cabinet secretaries, said 613 students had been rescued, along with 50 staff of the university.

Since it is already established that 142 students were killed and 815 were enrolled at the college, this would raise troubling questions about the whereabouts of some 60 students unless they had left the campus before the attack which was carried out on the eve of the Easter weekend.

The Ministry of Education issued a further statement last evening in which the number of students rescued was revised to 663, leaving 10 unaccounted for.

On its part, Moi University announced that 646 students of Garissa are to be admitted to the university’s main campus in Eldoret. It is assumed that the 646 survived the attack, giving a slightly different picture from the conflicting ones provided by the government. It is not clear where, going by the university’s own accounting, 27 students are since 815 were enrolled and 142 confirmed killed.

According to the student union’s math, the student population of Garissa was 847, and not the 815 given by the government and the university administration.

Out of those, 142 were killed and 646 — including the 106 they claimed were in hospital were accounted for — leaving 59 to be accounted for.

Uasu Secretary-General Muga K’olale, addressing the press in Nairobi, asked the government to find out where the missing students are.

“Let the government tell us on the whereabouts of the 160 students who are unaccounted for. They could have been kidnapped for all we know. We are doing our maths, considering the university had 850 students, we do not know where students in excess of 100 are, ” he said.

However, Garissa University College Dean of Students Jacktone Kweya Opande said the figures the union had given were wrong.

“How did the union come up with that figure? It is not correct,” he said but did not say how many students were in the university at the time of the attack.

On the other hand, the government yesterday announced that 128 out of 142 bodies had been identified.

Dr Omamo said the identification had been done through fingerprint matching overseen by 25 government pathologists.

“All post mortems have been done as required and the temporary crisis centre at Nyayo National Stadium has been closed. The remaining services have been transferred to Chiromo,” she said at a press briefing at Harambee House.

She was accompanied by other members of an inter-ministerial team which included Attorney General Githu Muigai, CSs Amina Mohamed (Foreign affairs), Phylis Kandie (Tourism), Anne Waiguru (Devolution), Judi Wakhungu (Environment), Najib Balala (Mining), Ali Wario (Sports), Jacob Kaimenyi (Education), Fred Matiang’i (ICT), James Macharia (Health), Head of Public Service Joseph Kinyua and National Treasury PS Kamau Thugge, among others.

She said each family would be given Sh100,000 by Garissa University College as support and funeral expenses met by the government.

“The number of fatalities constituted 65 female and 77 male students. The number of students rescued was 613 and 50 members of staff,” said Ms Omamo.

Reported by Maryanne Gicobi, Ouma Wanzala and Dennis Lubanga