Kyamate school fire: Justice must prevail

The story of Bonus Ankwatireire, a senior one student who was burnt to death at Kyamate Secondary School in Ntungamo Municipality on Sunday night, is heart wrenching. 

According to the school head teacher, Mr Emmanuel Arinaitwe, the fire which started at around 9:30pm at Nyerere and Mandela dormitories, was allegedly set up by arsonists.

Three other students escaped with injuries and several properties belonging to students including mattresses, beddings, beds, books and other personal property were destroyed.

Eyewitnesses who preferred anonymity, say this was no random fire outbreak. It was allegedly a targeted attack on the deceased.

“A group of former students were seen jumping over the school fence to access the dormitories before they ordered all S1 students who were in the rooms to shut up. They were about 10 people and when they entered, they tied one student on the bed and ordered all of us to remain silent. They had a jerry can of petrol which they spread across the room,” said the eyewitness. (See Daily Monitor, ‘Student dies in Kyamate school fire’, Monday February 27)

This was Ankwatireire’s first term as a secondary school student and perhaps he was looking ahead to what secondary school had to offer after going through years of primary education. Little did he or his parents/guardians know that it would also be the place of his untimely death.

Last year had its fair share of school fires. In fact, police in a November 2022 report revealed that 17 schools of 40 that caught fire across the country between January 5, 2022 and June 27, 2022 were burnt deliberately.  The report stated that the fires were caused by criminal conduct of students trying to settle personal scores like reacting to disciplinary action by school administration or as a result of quarrels among students.

The details of this particular fire have not yet been verified but we wait with baited breath to see justice prevail.

We hope that apart from stating that it was an act of arson, the school will thoroughly investigate what really happened and fight tooth and nail to see that justice is served. 

It is our prayer that if they are presented with the options of publicising gory details (if any) of this fire to the detriment of the schools reputation and hushing it all up to prevent a public relations scandal, they will choose the high road. 

Whatever options they find themselves having to pick from if any at all, we hope that they will do right by Ankwatireire. Justice must be served and lessons, albeit painful ones, learnt.  May Ankwatireire’s soul rest in eternal peace.