Morning fire burns Busia County finance offices

An early morning fire has burnt the Busia County finance office, destroying crucial documents in the department.

Interestingly, the Wednesday 2am fire happened in the vicinity of multimillion shillings fire engine, raising concerns over the preparedness of the county disaster department.

The fire engine is usually parked at the county headquarters where the incident happened.

The state-of-the-art equipment was bought at Sh55 million in 2016.

CAUSE UNKNOWN

Busia County Deputy Governor Moses Mulomi told Journalists that the cause of the fire was not immediately established.

“Only the finance office was affected by the fire. We are still waiting for officials from the department to inform us on the severity of the fire and the documents that may have been destroyed,” said Mr Mulomi.

He assured residents that most of the files that were destroyed had been backed up.

“We have a backup system in place for all the documents in the department," he added.

The office houses the payroll system among other documents.

MISCHIEF

Residents read mischief in the incident, suggesting that the fire might have been started deliberately to conceal the rot in the department that has previously attracted the eyes of the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission.

“We read mischief in this incident. How can a fire break out at 2 am and fire fighters fail to contain it yet their truck is right in front of the building?” wondered Mr Michael Omondi.

County Communications Director Winnstone Mbada said they are yet to establish the cause of the fire.

"The situation has been controlled. We are working closely with relevant authorities to establish the cause of the fire," Mr Mbada told the Nation.

Busia Governor Sospeter Ojaamong and Finance Executive Phaustine Barasa are out of the country on an official trip.