Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua on Friday said a specialized team of detectives has been deployed to Hillside Endarasha Academy in Kieni Nyeri County to commence investigations into the cause of the fire that killed pupils on Friday night.
The Deputy President said President William Ruto has asked for expeditious investigations into the inferno.
Speaking when he visited the school to comfort the affected families and assess the ongoing response efforts, Mr Gachagua said thorough investigations will be speedily done and the report made public on top of requisite actions taken.
“We have specialized teams from the directorate of investigations, pathologists and homicide and forensic detectives here. All these teams are working from here. We are asking for time and patience,” said the DP.
Mr Gachagua also passed the President’s and those of his family’s condolences to the families following the fatal incident.
He said the nature of the tragedy will require high-level input including collection of samples to identify bodies. He also called for responsible reportage to avoid misleading information and inaccuracies.
“There will be a lot of work of collecting samples for DNA to match the bodies with the parents. We are calling upon everybody to cooperate.
We are asking the media, the people of Kenya to allow our officers from DCI who are competent and professional to be given time to conduct investigations,” he urged.
The Deputy President who took time to pray and console the parents also asked for those who had already picked their children to report to the authorities or to the school for them to be accounted for.
“I am appealing to each and every parent who took their children from the school to report so the children can be accounted for. We thank the community around the place for their quick response but we ask them to also report the children they are hosting for accounting. It is after this that the Government will give a proper account of those affected,” he said.
