There will be a sad air in and around Nsibirwa Hall at Makerere from today morning after a first year student of Information Technology lost his life in the university swimming pool.
Identified as John Paul Mirimu, the deceased was just part of the routine morning hall jogging that at times ends with swimming in the pool but was unlucky to be in the company of non-swimmers.
The late Mirimu was unconscious as he was being whisked to the hospital and in as much as the official postmorterm is not yet out, eye witnesses allege that he could have died inside the pool since he spent over ten minutes under water before his friends could get swimmers from the neighbouring Nkrumah hall to rescue him.
“It also took us time to get a car that would transport him to Mulago after that delay in the pool”, an eye witness that sought anonymity told our reporter.
The university administration and police are against both late night and early morning swimming in the pool without supervisors but as tradition, halls of residence get turns in that pool after their regular Saturday morning joggings and late in the night in what they term as “midnight swimming” after the traditional naked mile.
The students have always been careful to stay in the shallow end whenever they donot know how to swim but Mirimu’s case was just tragic.
We could not get a statement from the whole administration but the Speaker of the Hall Senior Common Room (SCR), Amanya Katugume told our reporter that they regret the incident as a hall and prayed that the deceased rests in peace.
“I was unfortunately absent at the scene but Mirimu has been a wonderful and very vibrant student in the hall. What has befallen him is tragic and certainly regrettable. May his soul rest in eternal peace”, Katugume said in a telephone interview.
