The Police in Lamwo District are holding a teacher who on Sunday evening torched three grass 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 retaliation 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.
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.
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Should be charged for destroying school property.