{"id":120779,"date":"2025-09-02T15:11:56","date_gmt":"2025-09-02T15:11:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/index.php\/2025\/09\/02\/restless-parents-press-for-report-on-deadly-endarasha-school-fire-amid-silence\/"},"modified":"2025-09-02T15:11:56","modified_gmt":"2025-09-02T15:11:56","slug":"restless-parents-press-for-report-on-deadly-endarasha-school-fire-amid-silence","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/restless-parents-press-for-report-on-deadly-endarasha-school-fire-amid-silence\/","title":{"rendered":"Restless parents press for report on deadly Endarasha school fire amid silence"},"content":{"rendered":"

NYERI, Kenya, Sep 2 \u2014 Families of twenty-one pupils who died in a dormitory fire at Hillside Academy in September 2024 are demanding that the government release the findings of investigations into the tragedy to help them find closure.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cI wish I had not buried my son. Perhaps I would have known what caused the fire that killed him. For one year I have been agonizing over this. I can only heal after the findings are brought to light,\u201d said Cyrus Chege, whose son, Roy Muturi, a Class VI pupil, died in the blaze that gutted a dormitory on the night of September 5, 2024.<\/p>\n

Chege shares this pain with fellow parent, Timothy Gikonyo, whose son, Roy Brandon, also perished in the fire.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe as parents are suffering endlessly. Brandon was my only son. As we speak, his mother is constantly in and out of hospital after developing high blood pressure following the incident. She is always on medication. We cannot heal unless the findings are released. We need to know\u2014was it an accident or an arson attack?\u201d said Gikonyo.<\/p>\n

The two parents\u2019 sentiments mirror the anguish of other families who accuse both the government and the school of abandoning them after the burials. They say they were not even provided with postmortem reports.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor us this incident remains vague, just like it happened. How do they expect us to cope? We have never known peace since. No information has ever been released to us. It is as if after the burials everyone went silent on us,\u201d added Chege, a teacher at Endarsha Boys High School.<\/p>\n

He revealed that the tragedy forced him to relocate his family from the school compound to Nyeri town in an attempt to shield his other children from constant reminders.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen this incident happened, I was residing within my school. I relocated so that my other children would not keep seeing the bus that used to ferry their brother. But even after moving, they still remember him,\u201d said Chege.<\/p>\n

The grieving father also recalled the restrictions imposed by government officers immediately after the fire.<\/p>\n

\u201cEven after my son succumbed at Kenyatta National Hospital, we were ordered to take his body directly to Narumoro Hospital morgue. After the mass, we were told to take the bodies straight for burial. We suspect they did not want us to know anything, and this has come to pass with their continued delay in releasing the report,\u201d he told Capital News on Tuesday.<\/p>\n

Chege further disclosed that his elderly father, after whom his late son was named, has suffered ill health since the tragedy.<\/p>\n

\u201cSince we buried Muturi, his grandfather has felt like he was the one who died. He has been sick ever since. We have never known peace,\u201d he said tearfully.<\/p>\n

For Gikonyo, the unanswered questions point to a possible cover-up.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe believe our sons were not in safe hands at the time of the incident. Personally, I knew my boy as very swift. How come he did not make it out, yet some children as young as nine escaped unhurt?\u201d he asked.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe also want to know what became of the school\u2019s CCTV footage. We have information that the male caretaker the children called \u2018Uncle\u2019 was not in the dormitory that night. Where was he?\u201d added Gikonyo.<\/p>\n

The parents insist that releasing the investigation report is the only way to ensure accountability\u2014whether the fire was an accident or an arson attack.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe want the record set straight. Was the Hillside fire an accident, or was it an arson attack? That is what we need to know so that we can move on with our lives,\u201d said Gikonyo.<\/p>\n

They described their sons as high achievers whose bright futures were cut short by the mysterious inferno, saying their families will not rest until the truth is made public.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf the government truly cares for us, let it release the report. That way, our families can finally be at peace,\u201d they said.<\/p>\n

Commenting on the matter during his Nyeri tour in August, Interior Cabinet Secretary Kipchumba Murkomen recently confirmed that the Director of Public Prosecutions had recommended an inquest into the matter.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is true we are yet to release the report. However, I can confirm that an inquiry case will be opened in Nyeri court as directed by the DPP,\u201d Murkomen said.<\/p>\n

But for the grieving parents, only the full truth of what happened on that fateful night will bring healing.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

NYERI, Kenya, Sep 2 \u2014 Families of twenty-one pupils who died in a dormitory fire at Hillside Academy in September 2024 are demanding that the government release the findings of investigations into the tragedy to help them find closure. \u201cI wish I had not buried my son. Perhaps I would have known what caused the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-120779","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","entry"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/120779","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=120779"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/120779\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=120779"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=120779"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=120779"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}