Garissa varsity reopens as police boss boasts of student safety

Garissa University College reopened Monday, nine months after it was closed down following a terrorist attack that resulted in the deaths of 148 people, most of them students.

During a low-key ceremony at the institution, the college principal, Prof Ahmed Osman Warfa, said most of the staff had reported back to work.

The campus, a constituent college of the Eldoret-based Moi University, was the scene of a 10-hour siege when Al-Shabaab gunmen stormed it in the early hours of April 2, 2015.

Since then, a police post has been set up within the campus to increase security, and Prof Warfa said the government would spend Sh230 million to erect a permanent perimeter fence equipped with a closed-circuit TV (CCTV) monitoring unit in the coming months.

“Some 60 students who could not be redeployed to other campuses will begin classes on January 11,” said Prof Warfa, “while new students are expected to report to class in the September 2016 intake.”

Last month, Deputy President William Ruto, while on a tour in Garissa, said plans were under way to reopen the institution, which is seen as an important academic centre in a region with few centres of higher learning.

The Principal said the reopening of the institution was a private victory for both the university senate and the Garissa community.

He said even though the grounds and corridors of the institution still reminded him of the fateful April 2, he would fight the ghosts of terrorism better when the place once again bustles with academic activity.

“I wish I was armed when the attackers struck,” said the principal. “I would have defended my students against them. It pains me that we lost such a huge number of people, and I wish there was something we could have done differently.”

ALMOST SAFE
There was heavy presence of security personnel at vantage areas of the institution.

At the main gate, all guests were frisked before being allowed in, while police officers patrolled the grounds.

North-Eastern regional coordinator Mohamud Saleh said the reopening of the college was a significant victory in the fight again extremist ideologies, and warned that any remnant Al-Shabaab cells in the region would not last long.

“Since the attack on the college, we increased police patrols in and around the town, and we have not had any other such incident in Garissa for the last many months,” he said. “This shows there is something we are doing right.”

Mr Mohamud, however, said Mandera County still remained attractive to Al-Shabaab insurgents because of its close proximity to Somalia, but said security swoops between Elwak and Mandera were yielding positive results.