Market fires irk religious body

One of the religious bodies in Malawi Centre for Religious and Public Affairs (CRAPA) has asked the police and other stakeholders to fast-track their investigations in order to find out the root cause of the market fire outbreaks.

This comes at a time when Malawi has been engulfed with fire disasters including the burning of Vigwagwa market in Mzuzu, a village in Neno, Chilomoni Peoples supermarket in Blantyre and Dedza market.

Speaking in an interview, CRAPA executive director Alex Business said it is sad to note that the root cause of these fire outbreaks remain vague hence there is a need for concerned parties to conduct an investigation.

“It is very worrisome that though these incidences have occurred several times but still no one has established the cause,” he said.

The religious body also asked insurance companies to come up with different awareness campaigns on the need for local vendors to be insuring their products so that when such incidences occur, insurance companies should help recover the lost properties.

Business noted that when properties or goods have been damaged by fire vendors should not only depend on government alone for compensation but should also use other means which include insuring their merchandise to different insurance companies

. “I wish to take this opportunity to ask insurance companies to intervene and sensitise the local vendors to be insuring their commodities so that they get recovered once these incidences occur,” said Business.