Students suspected of arson to be arraigned in court

Seven students of Mwaani Girls' High School will be arraigned in court on Monday in connection with the burning of three dormitories at their school on Friday.

According to Makueni OCPD Benjamin Osongo, the girls were arrested on Saturday and have been remanded at Wote Police Station.

"We are suspecting that they might be having knowledge about the fire that burned their dormitories, or they could have participated in the arson themselves or even they had information that could have prevented the act but they did not disclose," Mr Orengo told said on Sunday in a telephone interview.

Three dormitories at the girls' school near Wote Town went up in flames on Friday evening bringing to 10 the number of schools that have suffered a similar fate.

None of the students was injured in the 5pm inferno that razed down beds, beddings and students' belongings before it was contained by a combination of the students and the school workers.

According to the principal Ms Brigitta Mutinda, the students were in worship sessions at two separate halls in the school by the time the fire broke out.

"Halfway through the worship sessions that I had attended, we heard students shouting 'fire! fire!' and on getting out, the dorm for Form Fours was engulfed in a thick cloud of smoke," she said on Friday as the building was being destroyed by the fire.

She ruled out arson by the students saying: "They are good girls: The incident has surprised me."

Asked whether she had had indiscipline concerns with the girls, she said "No".

"We had talked about the issues of school fires happening in other schools across the country with the students and they had assured me that they will remain disciplined," she explained.

Witnesses said that the fire spread quickly across the three enjoined dormitories.

Students and school workers used fire extinguishers and water in buckets to fight the fire.

The inferno came hot on the heels of another at Mukuyuni Secondary School on Thursday night and Mweini Secondary School in Kibwezi West Constituency on Wednesday.

Dorms in seven other schools, among them Kivuthini Secondary School, Athi Secondary School, Kiteta Boys' Secondary School, Utangwa Secondary School, Kanzokea Secondary School, and Kilome Salvation Army Secondary School have been raced down in diverse dates in June and July.

Altogether, 28 students have been arrested in various schools in Makueni in connection with school fires or attempts to set their schools on fire.