A funeral service for the Endarasha Hillside Academy fire victims that was scheduled for Wednesday this week will now take place a day later(Thursday).
Acting Central Regional Commissioner, Pius Murugu told KNA the changes have been arrived at after consultation with the bereaved families who found it necessary to shift the dates due to logistical issues.
Murugu has however said the time and other programs for the service remain unchanged.
“We have decided to move the date for the funeral service from Wednesday to Thursday due to some logistical issues which we have discussed and agreed upon with the parents of the deceased. Our Thursday program will nevertheless run as planned from 8.30 am to 11 am to allow families time to go and proceed with other funeral rites in their respective homes,” he has confirmed.
Speaking on Friday last week after meeting with the representatives of the parents of the victims and members of the Hillside Academy Fire Disaster Management Committee, Murugu had announced that funerals for the victims will take place immediately after the memorial service.
The interdenominational service will be held at the Mweiga Stadium in Kieni East sub county.
It was also agreed that families that will not be able to conduct burial on that day due to distance or time constraints would have the option of preserving the remains of their kin at the Naro Moru funeral home.
“We have agreed that the majority of parents will be able to bury the victims on the same day. That is why we have reduced the length of the service. By 11 am we should have finished with the memorial so that we can release the bodies to the respective parents and relatives,” said Murugu.
“By yesterday, we were able to know which families will be able to bury their kin on Thursday.The clergy have reduced time so that the families can reach home in time to bury the people the same day,” he added.
On his part, Nyeri governor Mutahi Kahiga who doubles up as the co-chair of the committee, said that modalities of how the school will be re-opened will start immediately after all the 21 victims have been buried.
Kahiga said that the committee would also expedite the school’s re-opening to give ample time to Grade 6 learners to prepare for the Kenya Primary School Education Assessment (KEPSEA)
Kahiga noted that in addition to footing all burial and medical expenses, the government had pledged to facilitate learners whose personal effects and school supplies that were destroyed in the fire purchase new ones.
“We have the other phase of about 143 pupils who must be resettled. The school also has to get off the ground. That is going to be the second phase when we finish with this phase so that we are able to take care of the Grade 6 learners who are doing the KPSEA so that they don’t get their school life interrupted,” said the county boss.
Last week Chief Government Pathologist Johansen Odour said they had managed to match the DNA samples obtained from the bodies of the victims with those of their parents.
“We have the pleasure to announce that we have received DNA results of the 21 victims of the fire which took place at Endarasha Hillside Academy. From the results we have, it indicates that the students are children of the parents who match with all of the 21,” said Dr Oduor during a press briefing outside the hospital on Wednesday afternoon.
Dr Oduor also informed journalists that the process of contacting the bereaved parents for the purposes of handing over the remains had started.
He said that the process was being undertaken by officers from the Directorate of Criminal Investigations together with the Kenya Red Cross.
“We are now in the process of contacting the relatives. We have a team made of DCI and Red Cross so that we can have them come over and unite them with their loved ones as we are preparing for the next process of assisting them in how they are going to bury them,” he said.
The school has a total of 824 pupils.
The number of boarders in the school at the time was 330 pupils with 166 of them being girls.
The rest of the school’s population are day scholars.
Out of the 164 pupils who were sleeping in the dormitory on that fateful September 5 night,19 perished while two others died while receiving specialized treatment in hospital.
By Samuel Maina
