Vice President Everton Chimulirenji has assured vendors who lost their goods in the Blantyre Market fire that they will be given loans.
Chimulirenji who is also Minister responsible for Disaster Management made the remarks on Thursday when he visited the market.
The vice president told the affected vendors that President Prof. Arthur Peter Mutharika was deeply saddened by the accident and loss of property.
“The President has directed that the affected vendors immediately access loans from the Malawi Enterprise Development Fund (MEDF) to assist them to get back to their feet following this tragic loss,” said Chimulirenji.
He also asked the Blantyre City Council to look into the issue of bricks so that the vendors should be able to rebuild their stalls.
Government, through the Department of Disaster Management Affairs, has since provided the affected vendors with 200 bags of rice (each weighing 50kg).
One of the affected vendors, Conly Kanonyere, said he and his colleagues are struggling to make ends meet.
“We lost a lot of our merchandise to the fire accident. We plea with the government to assist us in rebuilding our businesses,” said Kanonyere.
Fire broke out in one section of the market at around 11PM on Tuesday, destroying merchandise, stalls and a city council revenue office.
