By W, KNA
Parents whose children died in the Hillside Endarasha academy dormitory fire on September 5, 2024 and two civil society organizations, have moved to the High Court in Nyeri seeking justice for their children.
In a constitutional petition filed before the court on Tuesday, the 10 parents together with the Kenya Human Rights Commission (KHCR) and Elimu Bora Working Group have asked the court to hold seven respondents in the matter accountable for abdicating their duties of protecting and securing the lives of learners in the resulting in death by fire of the 21 young boys the school.
The School, the proprietors David Kinyua and Mary Wanjeri, the National Education Board, Nyeri County Director of Education, Nyeri County Education Board and Education Cabinet Secretary, have been listed as the 1-7 the respondents in the matter.
The petitioners have also asked the court to hold the seven, together with the Attorney General, who has been listed as the eighth respondent, accountable for the tragedy for failing to take adequate measures to prevent and mitigate against the fire.
They have argued that due to negligence on the part of the respondents, their sons lives were lost further resulting in the violation of their constitutional rights.
“Our petition primarily seeks to uphold the right to life, the right to human dignity, the right to the security of the person and also the right of the children and also the right to education.
What we want to put across is that our schools should be safe learning spaces,” said Raphael Okubo, the Counsel for the parents, Kenya Human Rights Commission, Elimu Bora Working Group.
The petitioners have further asked the court to instruct the seven respondents in the matter to publicize the findings from investigations into the cause of the fire within the next 30 days.
They say that their right to human dignity under Article 28 of the Constitution continues to be violated by the respondents by virtue of their failure to reveal the cause of and the circumstances surrounding the incident that claimed their sons’ lives.
“And the most unfortunate thing is that despite the incident that occurred at Hillside Endarasha Academy, Nyeri county, none of the duty bearers including the government have been able to offer any answers.
None of them have taken the time to be involved in giving answers to the parents and of course give answers to the nation,” said the lawyer.
“Of course the petition is not only specific to the 21 boys that lost their lives at Hillside Endarasha Academy, but also to all the learners across the country. We are seeking to have the courts declare that the children’s right to life were infringed upon, and even their rights of the parents that have survived the children have been infringed upon due to the trauma and psychological, mental and emotional torment and anguish that they have undergoing by virtue that the government has been quiet and also by the virtue of the fact that the owner of the school and the school itself, has not risen to the occasion to either give answers or take responsibility,” he added
They also want the respondents to also make public the reasons as to why the school was allowed to continue to operate, despite failing to publicize any report, revealing the cause of the fire.
Additionally, they want the court to compel the seven respondents to present a comprehensive audit report of the fire safety preparedness compliance of the school, within the next 30 days.
Mary Kambo, an officer from KHCR said that the commission is convinced that the fire was as a result of negligence, adding that the commission will continue to support the parents to pursue justice, until those responsible are held to account.
“We are convinced that someone should be held accountable because someone slept on their job. No parent should send their children to school only to receive charred remains.
The parents of 21 boys sent their boys to school, only to receive charred remains, this fire should be the last one.
We have had a number of fires happening in this country and learners dying, but this country has refused to learn from the incident,” she said.
Boaz Waruku, a Policy and Strategy Advisor at the Elimu Bora Working Group, said that they were counting on the court to deliver justice to the parents.
“Compensation is not enough, but justice and clarity on what happened, will at least assuage the anger of these parents,” said Waruku.
Meanwhile, a civil case seeking compensation for damages and loss of lives at the school, is set to be filed before the same court on Wednesday.
Okubo said the parents together with civil society organizations, will be seeking damages under the Fatal Accidents Act and Law Reform Act (2013) for the lives that were lost.
“Our suit under the civil claim, mirrors the one that happened in 2001 in the fire that happened in Kyanguli secondary school, Machakos county.
We are pursuing both avenues that there be compensation and also equally that the rights of the learners and the parents be upheld by the court,” he said.