Amuru 'lunatic' man torches staff room

By Claude Emma Omona

The teachers of Kololo Primary School in Amuru district will have no staff room when school opens for first term after the only one at the school was lit by a man said to be mad.

The torched grass-thatched structure was built by parents of the remote school.

24-year-old Wilfred Omony, whom the residents said was a lunatic, set the room on fire on Saturday.

The incidence occurred at a time when the Kololo residents were attending a meeting organized by Gilbert Olanya, the MP for Kilak sub-county.

Omony was found deep in sleep inside the burning hut which was used by the teachers as the staff room.

When he was pulled out and questioned by his ‘rescuers’ about the incident, Olanya said he was roasting his maize cobs from inside but fell asleep.

But his hazy account of the incident only did well to anger the residents who said they had labored “a lot” to erect buildings in the school.

The area LCI chairman Patrick Manamoi Ojwiya who was also called at the scene said a meeting will be held to plan for putting up another staff room before the new term starts.

Joyce Lamara, a resident expressed her fear of the living in the village.

She said they have become “so insecure since Omony started acting strange” here [in the village].

Seven desks and three blackboards were not spared in the fire, the school head, Paul Odong Dario confirmed

The school was founded by parents in 2008 and has a population of over 270 pupils who are from Primary One to Primary Six.

He made an appeal for stationery support from non-governmental organisations.