Janet Mbugua demands shared responsibility for Utumishi Academy arson

Janet Mbugua has urged Kenyans to embrace collective accountability in the wake of the Utumishi Girls Academy fire tragedy that claimed the lives of 16 students, saying the country must examine deeper systemic issues rather than focus blame on a single group.

In a statement shared on her social media platforms on Friday, June 5, 2026, Janet called for honest conversations about institutional failures, particularly when the safety and welfare of children are at stake.

While acknowledging the importance of discipline and personal responsibility among students, she argued that accountability should also extend to school administrators, policymakers, and the systems that shape learning environments.

“We expel children for breaking windows, but we also need to ask, ‘Who built a school with no doors?’” she wrote, urging the public to look beyond individual actions and examine broader structural shortcomings.

Janet noted that the tragedy has left 16 families mourning daughters they had entrusted to the school, describing the loss as devastating and deserving of the nation’s full attention.

“Sixteen girls are dead; families are burying daughters they dropped off at school expecting to collect at the end of term. That grief is unspeakable, and it deserves to be held fully before anything else,” she said.

She also challenged society to reflect on the circumstances that could drive students to destructive actions, especially given that school unrest and related incidents have occurred before.

“Then we have to ask the harder question: what broke down so completely that children felt destruction was their only option? Given that this isn’t the first incident?” she posed.

According to Janet, meaningful accountability must be shared by both students and the institutions responsible for creating and managing school environments.

“Accountability has to run in both directions. Toward the students, yes, and also toward every administrator, policymaker, and system that created the pressure without building the release valve,” she stated.

She concluded by calling for justice for the 16 victims while emphasizing the need for long-term reforms aimed at addressing the underlying conditions that can lead to such tragedies.

“Justice for the sixteen, as well as a system that stops producing the conditions for the next tragedy,” she wrote.