29/08/2024
THE KYANGULI FIRE TRAGEDY
On 25th March 2001, Davis Onyango Opiyo, then a 16-year-old form 3 student together with Felix Mambo Ngumbao hatched and executed a plan to burn down a dormitory at Kyanguli Secondary School in Machakos, killing 68 students, 58 of them burnt beyond recognition.
Opiyo, who was nicknamed by other students as 'Agwambo' or 'Agwas' and was mentioned as the arson's mastermind, never denied torching the dormitory and told the court that he did not like the new principal, David Mutiso Kiilu.
Top of his list of complaints against the new administration was the low quality of food that they said was being provided. Prior to the tragedy, Opiyo had been accused of trying to break into the exam room and steal mock papers for form fours (when he was a form two) claiming it was shameful for his school to be beaten by girls' schools like Machakos.
Opiyo and his group 'Wapinzani' also had been alleged of unsuccessful attempt to torch the principal's office and the library, mercilessly whipping a madam teacher who had gone to p*e outside her house at night and stealing loaves of bread from the kitchen store.
Opiyo couldn't be expelled because his parents were influential, according to testimonies by other students. In short, he was a DYNASTY.
The trial of 'Gen. Onyango Opiyo' lasted for almost two years. After two years of court proceedings, Judge Mutitu, who was handling the case, resigned from office. This was part of a government clean up of judges who had been implicated in various corruption scandals, an operation dubbed 'radical surgery'.
Justice Nicholas Ombija took over the case. Ombija terminated the case on 4th December 2006 terming it a mistrial since Mutitu was being probed for corruption.
The school still retains the same name. The site of the burnt dormitory is no more and has been replaced by a grass lawn and timber, which serves as a memorial park. 58 of the students (who were burnt beyond recognition) were buried in six mass graves,
Who could be having an idea of the family origin of this DAVIS ONYANGO OPIYO who was said to be a son of a Dynasty?
