Media personality Janet Mbugua has called for shared accountability following the Utumishi fire tragedy that left 16 girls dead.
Taking to her social media accounts, Mbugua urged for a deeper reflection on the systems surrounding the incident rather than placing blame in one direction.
According to Janet, the society must be willing to ask difficult questions about institutional failure, especially where children are involved.
The media personality noted that while discipline and responsibility among students are important, accountability must also extend to administrators, policymakers, and systems that may have contributed to the crisis.
Janet Mbugua calls for shared accountability following the Utumishi Girls fire incident
“We expel children for breaking windows, but we also need to ask, ‘Who built a school with no doors?’” Janet stated.
She highlighted the need to examine structural weaknesses in learning institutions.
Following the incident, sixteen families are now grieving daughters they had dropped off at school expecting to reunite with them at the end of term.
Janet described the loss as unbearable, stressing that such grief deserves to be fully acknowledged before any other debate.
“Sixteen girls are dead; families are burying daughters they dropped off at school expecting to collect at the end of term. That grief is unspeakable and it deserves to be held, fully, before anything else,” she added.
She further questioned what breakdowns in the education environment could lead children to feel destruction was their only form of expression, especially in a case that she suggested may not be isolated.
“Then we have to ask the harder question: what broke down so completely that children felt destruction was their only option? Given that this isn’t the first incident?” Janet further said.
Moreover, Janet called for responsibility not only from students but also from those in authority who shape school environments and policies
