The school deputy head teacher Michael Ocan Ocan says Okee was suspended in April this year and ever since he has persistently been petitioning his office and that of the chairperson Parents Teachers Association and the School Management Committee to consider reinstating him in service.
The
Police in Lamwo District are holding a teacher who on Sunday evening torched three thatched staff houses at Cubu Primary School in Abera Sub County.
The
suspect identified as Patrick Okee currently being held at Lamwo Central Police
Station was apprehended on Monday as he tried to elude arrest and was
reportedly nabbed while fleeing towards Kitgum district.
It’s
reported that Okee was seen by one of the teachers who was weeding in her nearby garden when the suspect torched two huts that were
completely razed down while one was saved after the intervention of neighbors
to the school.
Household
property, valuables and food staff worth over million shillings and money
totaling to 600,000 shillings belonging to the teaching staff were destroyed by
the fire.
Preliminary
investigations into the matter indicate that Okee who was a former teacher at
the school could have acted under frustration and in reiteration following an
indefinite suspension that he was served over gross indiscipline.
The
school deputy head teacher Michael Ocan reiterates the claims saying Okee
was under suspension on allegations of over drinking while on duty, absenteeism
and theft of school property which he repeatedly did despite numerous cautions.
Ocan
says Okee was suspended in April this year and ever since he has persistently been
petitioning his office and that of the chairperson Parents Teachers Association
and the School Management Committee to consider reinstating him in service.
According
to Ocan, the embattled former teacher has always been issuing threatening
statements in public that he would do something disastrous if the
school administrators fail to reinstate him back to work.
//Cue
in: “gin ma dong….
Cue
out: ……kwo kwede”//
The
Lamwo District Police Commander Robert Kacumu says investigations into the
matter are ongoing although criminal charges of arson and malicious damage to
property have already been preferred against the suspect.
The
Lamwo District Education Officer Barnabas Langoya condemned the act of the
suspect for engaging in a heinous act saying
it is not only criminal but contravenes the ethical code and conducts of the
teaching profession.
The
incident follows a similar one that occurred in April 2016 where an
arsonist set three huts belonging to the teachers at the then Cubu Community Parents Primary School.
The
suspect who was an estranged husband to a teacher attached to the school was
arrested and later charged for arson and causing malicious damage
to property.
Dan Michael Komakech
Freelancer
