Makerere University fire: Two security officers arrested

Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | Two security officers who were on night duty at Makerere University main building on Sunday have been detained over negligence of duty when the fire broke out.

A dressing journalists at Uganda Media Center, police spokesperson Fred Enanga said that preliminary findings indicated that two officers who were supposed to be on the night duty at University main building were sleeping or had absconded given the circumstances surrounding the delay in reporting the incident

Enanga says that by the time of response, fire had spread to the roof which means the security detail at Makerere was probably absent or could have absconded from duty for them to fail to realize there was smoke coming out from the building.

One of the suspects is a police officer and the other a private security guard who were supposed to be on duty that night guarding the main building premises. However, their names have been withheld by police citing the ongoing investigations .

On interrogation, the police officer apparently lied to detectives that he was at his designated point despite the investigations showing otherwise, while the security guard was found sleeping in his guard-post Enanga said

The police spokesperson however said they deployed 11 trucks and a team of over 40 men at the scene to put out the fire. Addressing the nation on Sunday, President Museveni alluded to the possibility that there was negligence at the University leading to the fire.

“The fire-fighting team had a challenge of lack of water hydrants at the University campus and had to drive to and from fire brigade headquarters near clock tower to fill the trucks and come back yet the fire was significant at that time,” Enanga disclosed.

Enanga adds that currently, police forensic experts have retrieved CCTV camera footage from the library wing to help tell if any person could have accessed the main building before the fire.

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