Mystery as second fire breaks out at Makerere

The origin of the fire that gutted down Makerere University's iconic Main Building remains surrounded in mystery as different versions of where the fire emerge. This was compounded further by a second fire that broke out later on Sunday evening in the southern wing of the same building that had initially not been affected by the first fire.

In an interview with UBC TV, Hassan Kihanda, deputy director Fire and Rescue services said the second fire was caused by reignition of the debris from the first fire. Kihanda said the second fire was easily put out by the police and there was no cause for alarm despite social media reports that police had already left the scene by the time of the second fire. 

"It was a reignition, of course, if you put out a fire and do not remove the burnt debris…it can cause fire where you had not put another fire before," Kihanda said. 

The first fire that gutted three-quarters of the main building is suspected to have begun from the public relations office, according to the official reports following a closed-door meeting. While addressing journalists, the ministry of Education permanent secretary, Alex Kakooza, revealed that preliminary findings point to the fire having been started in the ceiling of the public relations office that was located in the right-wing on the topmost floor. 

"We know that this fire started around midnight in the office of the public relations department, then it went down to the university secretary's office and then it spread to the southern wing which houses the records," said Kakooza. 

 

However, some resident staff at the university who were among the first people to arrive at the scene, say that the fire begun in the finance department located on the first floor in the right-wing. Dennis Abed, one of the security guards at the university says he was off duty when he received a call from colleagues telling him that the building was on fire. He says on rushing there, the fire could be seen on the floor where some of the finance offices were located.  

However, other residents claim the fire started from the central registry offices located on the topmost floor of the left-wing. Wilson Amooti Kisembo, a resident staff says the fire spread from the central registry before it spread to the human resource department.

"The fire started on the floor up to the central registry where there are our records…where we keep our records, then it went to personnel. It ended up in accounts. The whole of accounts is gone, burnt, down. It is still burning, you can see the fire. Then it went to the audit, the retirement office handling the retirement of people, then it crossed to personnel," said Kisembo. 

When the preliminary report from the university was communicated, this caused surprise to many staff members who spent the better part of the morning at the site of the fire. One of the staff who preferred to remain anonymous due to the sensitivity of the matter said that the diverging views on the origin of the fire are suspicious and a sign that things are getting political.  

"We have been here since morning, and we saw it and know the fire begun in the finance department. Even the university vice chancellor while speaking to journalists said the fire begun from down and made its way to the ceiling hence circulating to the entire building. Now it seems what we know is changing," the source said.

CID boss Grace Akullo who arrived at the scene of the fire after 11:00 am on Sunday said that they have begun investigations into what might have begun the fire and where it might have originated. Cameras located on the ground floor of the building that might have shed more light on the investigations were destroyed in the fire.

As of 1:00 pm, only three floors of the iconic building was remaining. The office of the vice chancellor, the senior common and the council room located on the first two floors of the building were untouched. The university printery located in the basement of the building was also intact.  

With the smell of smoke lingering in the air, everything in the right-wing was destroyed by the fire. Documents, furniture and computers located in the finance department, university secretary's office, deputy vice chancellor administration and finance, central registry where, audit offices, pension offices, salary offices and human resource offices were all destroyed.  

 

Makerere vice chancellor Prof Barnabas Nawangwe assured Makererenians and the general public that all records past and present are safely stored in digital form. 

 

"The fire at our Main Building was a very big tragedy. However, I would like to assure all our alumni, staff, students, and General public that ALL our records past and current; Human Resource, student, Academic and financial records are ALL safely stored in digital form." Nawangwe tweeted. 

 

Re-echoing his determination to restore the building back to its former glory, Nawangwe said they are going to engage engineers from the ministry of Works to carry out a structural damage assessment which will guide their decision to either completely demolish the building or to add onto the remaining structure.

According to Nawangwe, the original blueprints of the building are still intact at the estates department and they will be consulted during any construction works.  

Source