President Dr Lazarus McCarthy Chakwera through his Minister of Local Government, Unity and Culture Richard Chimwendo Banda has consoled the families that lost properties in the fire that razed through Zomba market rendering traders to lose millions of kwachas in the process.
Speaking after touring the gutted on Sunday, Chimwendo Banda assured them of government support by providing them with loans and other humanitarian reliefs towards their “come back”.
In his remarks, Chimwendo described the incident as ‘death sentence’ to the families that have lost their businesses and also to the nation’s economy.
“President Dr Lazarus McCarthy Chakwera is aware of the disaster which has destroyed thousands of kwachas here and he is sending his sympathies to all families that have been affected by the raging inferno, particularly Mr Dodi who has lost everything in this incident. It is another “dark day” to our nation taking into account the investment efforts traders put in their businesses and also that not so long ago, another fire razed down the Ndirande market in Blantyre
“This is another great loss to the nation’s economy as Small Scale Entrepreneurs contribute significantly to the development of the country through these type of businesses. We are deeply saddened with this incident especially to the traders whose livelihoods have gone up in flames,” said Chimwendo Banda who is also leader of government business in Parliament.
Chimwendo also hailed the heroic efforts by the fire brigade who swiftly came in to douse the raging braze before it spread to the parts of the market since that could have been catastrophic due to the fact that large amount of flammable items such as cooking oils and plastics that are being kept in the market.
Later, the Chimwendo consoled Mr Dodi with K500,000 while indicating his ministry will soon convene a “think- tank consultative” indaba to seek solutions on how best they can prevent such incidents in the future.
Chimwendo also assured the traders of president Chakwera’s commitment to empower the lower class economy people through ‘soft loans’ from National Economic Empowerment Fund ( NEEF) and those who have been affected by fire that they will soon get loans so that they can rebound from the loss.
In his remarks, Dodi said he was devastated with the incident.
“My family was dependent on this shop. What do I do now? Everything burned to ashes. This is like the judge has sent me to serve a “maximum prison sentence without parole” because am devastated beyond measure after working so much to change the fortune of my family and the results can be what we are seeing today,” he said while shaking his head in disbelief.
But Dodi was quick to praise president Chakwera through his minister for his K500,000 relief that will temporary help his family to buy other basic needs and send his children to school.
Though the cause of the fire is not yet known, but it is believed that often times such incidents happen due to poor electrical installation and faulty gas cylinders.
Last month, in Ndirande, blaze also swept through the market leaving traders with nothing.
