A fire has burnt a block of government offices at Works Department consisting of five store rooms belonging to National Archives, Disaster Management and Mitigation Unitn DMMU), Road Development Agency (RDA), Rural Roads Unit (RRU) and Drug Enforcement Commission (DEC).
The fire, which started at about 01:00 hours yesterday, caused damage to government materials worth millions of Kwacha.
The fire also gutted some important personal documents for retired civil servants, building materials for various on-going government projects and files containing important documentation for the DEC and DMMU.
However, the cause of the fire and extent of the damage had not yet been established by press time, although the Provincial Buildings Engineer, Exon Kalabi, suspected an electrical fault as the origin of the fire.
Mr Kalabi said he was informed about the inferno around 02:00 hours and immediately rushed to the scene with a team of his colleagues and tried to save some of the materials from the flaming furnace.
He said the Fire Fighters were also on board to quench the blaze and managed to stop the fire from spreading to other office blocks.
And Central Province Minister, Philip Kosamu, expressed disappointment over the conduct of the Zambia Police, which, despite the urgency of the matter, ignored the whole incident.
Mr Kosamu said the excuse by the police officers that they could not get to the scene because they had no diesel in their vehicles is irrelevant because police officers are just a few kilo meters away from the scene.
The minister noted that the fact that there was no police presence at the scene showed how the department is not seriousness in attending to emergencies.
Mr Kosamu also expressed worry over the extent of the damage, saying the damage is immense because it will be difficult for the retired civil servants to claim their dues without valid documentations.
He directed the officers involved to assess the extent of the damage and relay the information to his office so that government could know the way forward.
Mr Kosamu, further, directed the Deputy Commissioner of Police to ensure that the department investigates the matter to help government know what really happened.
ZANIS
HMMMM!!! DEC, RDA, anyone else smell something fishy here???
Of course somebody has destroyed evidence implicating him!Â
I smell a rat as huge as an elephant!
Poorly wriiten story, it doesnt state where the fire happened and after waiting for seven paragraphs thats when we are only told its Central Province. And the Editor passed it???
I agree totally
As I was reading the article all these questions you’ve raised were assailing me. Arent ghere any writing schools in Zed any longer? What is the meaning of the following sentence: The fire also gutted some important personal documents for retired civil servants,?
And the following sentence: Mr Kosamu said the excuse by the police officers that they could not get to the scene because they had no diesel in their vehicles is irrelevant because police officers are just a few kilo meters away from the scene?
The poor quality is even more disappointing given the story was written by ZANIS – our NATIONAL news and information service after all. What on earth these buggers ….’er…. I mean journalists, are doing representing the nation when they can’t spell or write is beyond me. It’s like having someone on the NATIONAL football team who can’t kick!
Back at school my English teacher wouldn’t allow such rubbish to placed in front of her and wouldn’t be worthy of her red marker!!Â
Where in Central Province???
near muchinga province. lol
snatchead
wandepulaaaaa!
ba central province minister mr Philip Kosamu you have diisapointed me. how surely do you expect the police to quench fire with AK47 rifle you are supose to blame the one who started that fire or the firemen for not puting the off on time, let the police fight crime not fight fire, problem you are used in blaming the police in everything
You are right @wafwa napanga. I was also wondering whether the minister is only trying to find a scape goat here. What did he expecte the police to do? Get some statements from the fire before it went off to burn some other property? I thought he should be advocating for a fire tender. Mr Kosamu, next time, before you open your mouth think whether what you will say will make sense otherwise just shut up. You are not expected to speak at everytime.
Banensu, at every emergency the police force should be involved. Here in the US and everywhere in the western world whenever there is an emergency all the critical service men and women entrusted with the safety and security of citizens are present and regular citizens are strongly deterred from being at such places. The overwhelming presence of regular citizens can be a great obstruction to rescue operations. So yes the police are supposed to be at such emergencies.
‘Grade 12 School Leaver with 12 points’ you should be the one to shut up. The police are supposed to be there just as 4.2 has explained. ’12 points’ my foot!
Which journalism school did the writer of this poorly done article attend? Where u not taught about the “5 Ws” in story writing?
Leave the police alone! They didnt cause the fire and tell your govt to ensure the police service is well funded for them to respond to such cases promptly.
The author should have told us where the fire occurred in the intro and not wait after seven paragraphs! and bwana Minister vent your anger on fire fighters not the police my understnading is that police are there to fight crime not fire or has the job description of police changed?
even in the seventh paragraph,it is not reported where this incident took place all we are told is central province minister said bla bla bla.
Which journalism school did the author of this badly done article attend? where u not taught the “5Ws” in article writing? Be serious with what u are doing.Do u even have properly baked editors?
foolish reporting.where was this fire
somesing fissy- RDA (tender docs), DEC (ma reports/ cases ya ma drugs na aya)
Chamba chapyaa….
Shame! This is the attitude of the so called police service. When we complain about them, you ministyer you support them. Now today it on you, you have felt how we feel when we complain about the inefficiency of the police service. Cili pamuzako lelo, mailo cili paiwe. Wake up from you sleep!
That’s was my thought too. Hope they do something about the attitude of the police as well as other public servants. Also equip them so they can perform their jobs.
Don’t talk about difficulties for retirees to get there dues as a result of the fire. What were the copies doing in archives if people are not yet paid?
Such lunacy. this minister expected to see police officers first instead of the fire brigade.. yaba!
There’s disaster management in Zambia? What exactly do they do, the whole freaking country is a disaster!
kikikikikiki you have made my day.ati the whole freaking country is a disaster…true for sure.
Rubbish…………..
Zambian civil service mentality….if you can’t contain it just blame someone else…even if they are not involved…police to quench fire…lol…
If its not load shading then it must be sabotage!
Pemba Mamina#5 Journalists are a mirror of the rest of society. If such a poor reporter is allowed to work I wonder what kind of engineers Doctors lawyers and teachers we have been producing
Arent there any writing schools in Zed any longer? What is the meaning of the following sentence: The fire also gutted some important personal documents for retired civil servants,?
And the following sentence: Mr Kosamu said the excuse by the police officers that they could not get to the scene because they had no diesel in their vehicles is irrelevant because police officers are just a few kilo meters away from the scene?
seriously the writer of this report should go back to school at least to learn some English courses and i recommend that he or she takes the following courses, English 083,111,031/032 and English 024/025. This report is poorly written from the beginning to the end. Shame that 48 years of independence Zambia has no fire stations and fire trucks country wide. How about the procured new fire trucks and equipments we read about this morning are they just gonna be for the airports as reported?
Your police only has fuel to go for a roadblock 15 kilometers up great North Road towards Kapiri. At least there they make money out of the poor motorists. Corruption is a bad thing and affects everyone, this time round bwana minister it was your turn to taste the medicines dispensed by your police, no diesel for a few kilos but they have for a lot more kilos as long as there is money for their pockets
Serves the frikkin’ GRZ right to hear the Police have no fuel – how many times have the rest of us heard that excuse so is about time a Minister does too!
Truly, it is not just ZP which is “not serious” as the Minister says, but the entire GRZ for failing to address the problem. Why so shocked, Sir? Ba Minister even has the audacity to say the police should walk. Maybe they should have walked, but that is besides the point of why they don’t have fuel to begin with!
I smell a rotten rat here?
poorly written article
This is very poor Journalism, which school did you go to? May be you are a Grade 7 failure.You even tell your boss i have written the article,just trash.Improve you can start night school it is not too late my man.You just an embarrassment to us in diaspora, we can no longer give them your site because of such pre -school English construction.Just a hint if you want to read good articles go to Newvision.ug.com or Nationalmirror.ug.com.
This is GREAT news. Maybe the “government” will finally get the point. The ‘point’ being, there’s an URGENT need to look at how emergencies are dealth with in Zambia today.
You can’t have the police telling you the victim of a crime to go and pick them up if you need assistance.
You can’t have the so-called fire brigade going to “put out” a fire without equipment to pit it out in the first damn place. Why even show up????
Am personally happy this fire has burnt part of the government offices. I wish it had burnt the whole damn building down.
Say whatever you want, it’s just a matter of time before sh1t hits the fan.