Embu Governor Cecily Mbarire suspended five employees on Saturday, July 8, after a fire tragedy left eight families homeless.
According to the governor, the officers on duty failed her constituents by failing to respond to emergency calls in the Wednesday, July 5 incident.
Expressing her frustration, Mbarire revealed that the county had to seek assistance from Kirinyaga County, which promptly assigned firefighters to put out the fire that engulfed three houses.
"Following the unfortunate fire incident at Majengo Embu town and inaction and negligence by the disaster response team, I have sent 6 employees on compulsory leave to pave the way for investigations," Mbarire declared.
"Our fire department did not respond at all, it took the help of firefighters from Kirinyaga County. We lost three houses," she lamented.
Those sent on compulsory leave included the Director of Disaster Management and firefighters who were only a few kilometres away when the accident occurred.
In the wake of the fire tragedy, Governor Mbarire assured the residents that her administration was prepared to make the tough decisions needed to clean up the lethargic fire department.
"I apologise to the people of Majengo Estate for this tragedy. I will get to the bottom of this," she assured.
Fortunately, none of the residents lost their lives in the fire, but most lost personal items of an undisclosed value.
"I went in to save my belongings before the fire spread. Some people were pretending to help. They ran away with my goods, I only have the clothes I am wearing," one victim regretted.
Reports alleged that the fire broke out after a gas cylinder exploded in one of the houses when most residents were at work in the afternoon.
The residents called upon the government to help them replace some valuable documents destroyed in the fire, including birth certificates, national identity cards, and school transcripts.
