Focus shifts to compliance with school safety manual after Utumishi Academy tragedy kills 16

Speaking during a briefing on Thursday, Ogamba said it would be premature to speculate on what caused the fire, noting that investigators were yet to establish the origin of the blaze.

“As we have said, we already do not know the cause of this particular fire and it would be speculative… we wait for the outcome of the investigations,” Ogamba said.

He said Kenya has a school safety manual that institutions are expected to adhere to, adding that the probe will also look into whether the guidelines were followed at Utumishi Academy.

“From a policy perspective, we have a safety school manual that all the schools adhere to and I would urge that we wait to see, after the investigations, whether that safety manual was adhered to in this particular school,” he said.

Ogamba said the government has previously taken action against schools not meeting the required standards, citing an earlier period when hundreds of institutions were shut down following safety audits.

“Initially, when… happened, we did close to 350 schools that were not meeting the specifications of that particular manual,” he said, adding that audits would continue and the manual would keep being updated.

The remarks came as Ogamba and Murkomen gave an update on the tragedy, confirming that 16 students died in the fire.

Ogamba said the fire broke out at about 12.45am in a dormitory on the second floor, which was completely destroyed, leaving several learners injured.

He said the school has a total population of 815 girls, but 808 were in school at the time, with seven away for various reasons.

According to the Education CS, 79 learners were injured and taken to hospital. He said 71 have been discharged, seven remain admitted, while one was picked by a parent.

Murkomen urged Kenyans to avoid speculation as investigations continue, and thanked multi-agency response teams, including the county security team and the Kenya Defence Forces (KDF), saying the fire was put out by about 3am.

Nakuru Governor Susan Kihika said agencies were working together to support affected families.