EDITORIAL: Bombs: raise awareness

The tragic incident at Kihinga Primary School in Ngara District, Kagera Region, where five pupils died after a bomb one of them had put in a backpack hoping to sell it as scrap metal exploded, is a sad reminder of similar cases that have bedevilled Tanzania in recent years.

At least 43 pupils were also injured on Wednesday in the bomb explosion. It’s even more tragic to think that this happened at a school. The pupil who carried the bomb in his schoolbag before the explosion thought he was doing a good thing – sell scrap metal to buy exercise books. He didn’t know he was carrying a dangerous object.

This brings us to the point that security authorities in areas across the country, where there is a high likelihood of finding such explosive devices as bombs, have work to do – educate the people time and again.

Awareness campaigns should be sustained if they are to be effective. Just recently, in September this year, three children died when a bomb they had picked in the bush as they took animals to graze, mistaking it for a ball they could play with, exploded in Monduli District, Arusha Region.

Reports suggest that two years before that, a similar incident had happened. Let’s continue educating citizens, especially those bordering military training areas and close to international borders.