Garissa residents have been urged to stop speculating about the cause of Thursday’s fire that destroyed the county assembly chambers on Thursday.
Governor Ali Korane said that residents should be patient and allow investigative agencies to do their work.
“Unfortunately, this town has become the epicenter of hopeless speculation, propaganda and social media wars. My appeal is that we slow down on this matter,” he said.
“I urge that we leave this to the investigative agencies who are qualified and have the skills to tell us exactly what happened.”
He said the incident is still being handled as an accident unless proven otherwise.
The county chief spoke when he toured the facility to assess the extent of the damage.
The fire started at 8.20am on Thursday in the assembly chambers and quickly spread to nearby offices.
It took the Garissa fire brigade 45 minutes to arrive at the scene. By then, the fire had spread to the MCAs offices.
Members of the public unsuccessfully tried to put out the fire using extinguishers and water as the chambers floor is carpeted and the ceiling is made of wood.
Speaker Ibrahim Abass said almost 70 per cent of the assembly chambers was destroyed.
Only the offices of the speaker, the clerk, the deputy speaker, the majority leader and the minority leader were spared. The department of finance and procurement was also not destroyed.
The cause of the fire could not immediately be ascertained.
Abass on Saturday convened an urgent meeting with the house leadership to chart the way forward.
Present were assembly clerk Mohamed Santur, majority leader Mohamed Gabow and minority leader Mohamed Ali.
Santur welcomed the governor’s intervention, saying operations have been disrupted.
“The assembly will not be able to operate. I want to appeal to the governor to come to the aid of this institution as soon as possible to ensure the assembly discharges its duties for the people of this county.”