The Sunday midnight fire that gutted Makerere University Main Building reportedly started from the office of the Public Relations, according to Chrysestom Muyingo, Minister of State for Higher Education.
Muyingo while presenting a report on the floor of Parliament said that in the morning of Sunday 20th September 2020, at around half past midnight, a police patrol team at Makerere University noticed smoke emanating from the roof of the Makerere University Main Administration Building. The patrol team alerted the OC Makerere Police Station, who had been deployed at Nateete Police Station for the night. The OC Makerere Police Station at the time was in the CCTV control room and he zoomed the CCTV cameras to the Main Building and indeed the cameras remitted images of smoke rising from the building.
“The OC Station alerted the Chief Security Officer who rushed to the scene immediately and arrived at the building about 12:47 am. He first saw smoke rising from the roof above the offices of the Public Relations Department and soon after fire engulfed the roof. He immediately alerted the control room to request the Fire Brigade to rush to the scene,” Minister Muyingo said in a statement.
According to Muyingo, whereas the Police Fire Brigade arrived at 1.10am, the fire was only subdued at 4am after the entire roof had collapsed because the two fire engines that police carried did not have the capacity to jet water to the roof of the building.
The 79 year old Main Administration Building is an iconic building which is the symbol of Higher Education in Uganda and the entire East and Central African Region.
The building housed the offices of the Vice Chancellor, the Deputy Vice Chancellor (Finance and Administration), the University Secretary, the University Bursar, the Directorate of Human Resources, the Directorate of Internal Audit, the Public Relations Office and the Council Room. It is only the Printery, which is located in the basement of the building that was not affected by the fire.
According to Minister Muyingo, practically all the documents in the Directorates of Finance, Human Resource, including the Central Registry, and the Directorate of Internal Audit were destroyed.
“Fortunately, all the financial documents for previous financial years had been moved to the archives. Similarly, all old files in the Central Registry had been moved to the archives. All the files of the current staff have been digitalized and are safely stored away. The financial documents for the Financial Year 2019/2020 are being audited and have been evacuated. The documents in the offices of the Vice Chancellor, Deputy Vice Chancellor and University Secretary were also evacuated,” he said.
The University is now faced with the task of restoring this iconic building in time for the centenary celebrations due in 2022. Apparently, the university needs about Shs20bn to restore the Main Administration Building.
