This archive report was first published on 3 December 2019.
On a fateful night in September, a finance office in Busia County's county government headquarters went up in flames, leaving behind a trail of destruction and unanswered questions. According to Acting Director of Disaster Management Joseph Ekisa, the Close Circuit Television Cameras (CCTV) were not functioning, and armed police officers who were supposed to be manning the premises were mysteriously absent.
Only private security guards were on duty that night, and it was they who called in the firefighters to put out the raging inferno. Ekisa revealed this during the hearing of the case in which two county staff, Director of Finance Paul Onono and accountant Evans Wangata, were charged in connection with the arson attack.
Ekisa presented a report of an internal investigation conducted by his department, which found that the accused were not at the scene of the fire when he arrived with the firefighters. He told Principal Magistrate Samson Temu that the probe did not implicate Onono and Wangata as the masterminds of the fire.
Ekisa stated, 'It was impossible to determine who started the fire or what could have caused the fire.' He also revealed that the grill of the office that was burning was intact, and they had to use an axe to break in and put out the fire.
Onono and Wangata were arrested and charged in connection with the arson attack. The incident has raised questions about the security measures in place at the county government headquarters.
Published on December 3, 2019
