Migori teachers college closed as police urge caution

The Migori Teachers Training College has been closed for security reasons.

All the 200 in-service teachers doing Kenya Institute of Special Education (Kise) and special education courses left for home on Sunday, with police moving in to secure the area.

However, the college's 1,000 regular students are on a break.

The campus was deserted when the Nation visited on Sunday. College principal Mary Claire Indire, who was away, said she had received the reports of a possible attack.

"I am away in hospital but I am fully briefed of what has happened," she said.

Guards at the institution said they had been given strict instructions not to allow strangers into the compound.

Migori County Police Commander David Kirui said they were in possession of "valuable" information regarding a potential terrorist attack in the region.

"I do not want to pre-empt our investigations at this moment but I ask all members of the public to be on high alert. Colleges and schools are potential target," said Mr Kirui, who asked the management of those institutions to take precautionary measures to ensure the security of learners.

"Supermarkets, markets and other public places have also been noted as potential hotspots," he added.

Nyanza has not suffered a terrorist attack but the new intelligence brief puts security officers on high alert.

Migori Deputy Speaker Boaz Okoth said security personnel should make sure they protected the lives and property of Kenyans.

"We have received the threats (and are) in utter shock and we hope that our security agencies will move with speed to secure all of us," he said.

Mr Kirui asked Migori residents to immediately report "people behaving suspiciously" to the authorities.

FAILED TO PROVIDE SECURITY

On Saturday, the Garissa Medical Training College was also closed — in this case indefinitely — with the principal saying the government had failed to provide adequate security.

"Following the terrorist attack at Garissa University College, the institution formerly requested the county commissioner to provide armed security … However, we were told the government cannot provide the number we were requestiong," college principal Omar Osman said, adding that they felt they couldn't "gamble with the lives of our students".

He said the students would be transferred to other medical training colleges around the country, among them Kabarnet, Thika, Kapenguria and Murang'a.

However, Enrolled Community Nursing students will be the most affected because only Kapenguria offers a similar course.

The principal termed the failure by the government to provide the level of security requested unfortunate, but said the teaching and non-teaching staff would remain as they wait for instructions from Nairobi.

Students who spoke on condition of anonymity said that the closure of the college was playing into the hands of Al-Shabaab and was not a move that would address the security problem in the region.

The education sector in northeastern Kenya has been suffering for months following the refusal of teachers from outside Garissa, Wajir and Mandera to return to those counties following the attack that killed several teachers travelling to Nairobi from Mandera late last year.

The future of Garissa University College is unclear after a number of students who survived the attack vowed not to return.