On Monday morning, at Strathmore University in Kenya students and staff members heard gunshots on campus and scrambled for hiding places to avoid being attacked. A consequence of an ill-prepared drill exercise organised by the Police force, police officers in charge of the drill made use of live ammunition during the exercise.
Students of Strathmore University who thought the shots were caused by terrorist attacks, started jumping from buildings and looking for hiding places. In the process, over 30 students sustained injuries, while one staff member lost her life.
Have witnessed a terror drill at the UoN and KU but its always announced earlier and measures put in place, what went wrong in Strathmore — Carlystoh McOchieng (@ochycarl) December 1, 2015
As the tweet above and several others suggest, the main contention with the Strathmore drill exercise is negligence. It is standard procedure to inform people of training and drills of any nature.
However, the organizers did not take appropriate precautions to alert students and staff to the exercise and the time. If this had been properly done, no casualties would have been recorded. For the past one month, British security personnel have been training Kenya Airports Authority (KAA) supervisors and security personnel on how to handle terror threats. Surely this training is ongoing with the knowledge and cooperation of those working at the airport.
The Strathmore incident has scarred students and faculty, particularly in light of the Garissa University attacks this past April, which killed 147 and injured 79.
The death of one staff member and injuries of several others in Strathmore only reinforces that fear as students have started to believe they are neither safe from terrorists nor school authorities and armed forces, who organize drills.
