An early morning inferno on Sunday razed a building in Kwle town belonging to former Kenya National Union of Teachers (KNUT) chairman Mudzo Nzili.
The fire that began at around 3.30AM consumed a large part of the residential-cum-business building in the centre of the town.
The razed building contained several boutique shops, offices and rental rooms in the backyard.
A distraught Nzili who addressed the press in Kwale town said the fire started in the front section of the building before spreading to the rental rooms in the rear.
“The fire was too much and there was thick smoke but luckily nobody among the occupants got hurt in the incident,” he said.
Matuga Sub-County Police Commander Francis Nguli confirmed the incident and said investigations have been launched.
According to eye-witnesses, the fire emanated from the front side before spreading to the entire building.
Nguli said nobody was hurt in the disaster but nothing was salvaged from the building and that the cause of the fire has not yet been established.
While briefing the press Nzili alleged that the fire was intentionally lit to destroy him.
“Some people are after me and I strongly believe what has happened today is one way of embarrassing me,” he said.
He noted that the fire was not caused by an electric fault noting that Kwale town has had no power supply since Saturday.
It took the efforts of the county fire service using a water truck to quench the veracious fire.
He said the occupants of the building and neighbours tried to put out the fire but made little impact because of its high intensity.
Nzili is among the people who have shown interest in the 2022 gubernatorial election in Kwale county.
He said his political rivals were targeting to bring him down saying he lost valuable documents in the fierce fire.
He, however, said he is lucky to have survived the tragedy.
The former KNUT chairman added that he was awake performing morning prayers before the incident.
He said 15 minutes after he went back to sleep, he had people screaming and shouting fire!fire!
“There was a power blackout so I used my phone’s torch to do my prayers some minutes afterwards. It’s when the fire began,” he said.
The building was once a rental house but Nzili had converted part of it into his living quarters and rentals.
By Hussein Abdullahi
