MUK FIRE: Key witnesses missing - Police

KAMPALA - The Police have kicked off an extensive hunt for three suspected key witnesses in the Makerere University fire.

Last week's inferno, which started at about midnight on September 20, destroyed documents and equipment in several offices on the Main Building, including the registry and finance department.

Uganda Police Force spokesperson Fred Enanga said although there were no casualties, one of the Police constables, Julius Kiwanuka, has since disappeared.

"One of our Police officers, PC Julius Kiwanuka, is still at large. He is one of those who were manning the Main Building that very day," Enanga said on Monday.

Addressing journalists at the Uganda Media Centre (UMC), Enanga also noted that two office cleaners who were working in the same building, have also gone missing.

"Whereas we have already recorded several statements of witnesses from the university staff, we are still looking for all these people to record their statements.

We also want to interest ourselves in their disappearance. We are sure their statements might be of great importance in our investigations," he noted.

Enanga also revealed that one of the Police officers has since been arrested, pending further investigations.

Investigations

"We accessed the scene and effectively analysed and documented everything. We discovered that the fire started from the office of the public relations officer and spread to the finance department. All offices on the top floor and some on the second were destroyed," Enanga said.

The building holds the office of the university's vice-chancellor, deputy vice-chancellor, finance and administration, university secretary, university bursar, and also holds records of students. The basement is full of archive files that contain the entire history of the institution.

"Our investigating officers are also scrutinising four different footages, where they expect to get clues on the real cause of the fire.

"There are some images that we are interesting ourselves in, but they are not very clear at this stage. I believe if we analyse them better, we can get clues that can indicate whether it was a case of arson or power," he added.

There are about three to four levels that we need to comb, for anything of the forensic value," he added.

The structure that got burnt is one of the institution's oldest buildings, completed in 1941 during the stewardship of the Principal of Makerere College, George C. Turner.

According to information from the University Library, the Makerere Ivory Tower is a unique building using both the colonial British architecture and European styles.

The building floor plan is in a T-shape, with a large imposing tower to denote its main entrance.

The topmost part (Ivory Tower) is bare stone with a large bell in it and it has four arches — one on each side, to allow the sound of the bell to spread far and wide.

According to the vice-chancellor, Barnabas Nawangwe, the university managers are determined to restore the building to its state in the shortest time possible.

Makerere was established in 1922 as a technical school.

On November 3, 1938, the Duke of Gloucester, representing His Majesty King George VI, cut the first stone for the construction of the building.

Police holds Kyagulanyi bodyguards

The Police is still holding two bodyguards of Kyadondo East MP Robert Kyagulanyi Sentamu, for allegedly assaulting Police officers near the Court of Appeal at Twed Towers, Nakasero in Kampala.

The two were identified as Twaha Kavuma and Adam Matovu.

According to Enanga, they will be arraigned before court on charges of obstructing and assaulting Police officers on lawful duty.

"We are still investigating and looking at these incidents of continued attacks on our Police officers by this group from the same political group. I want to warn those attacking them that they will be facing the consequences," Enanga told the media yesterday.