Tanzania: Samia Rues Massive Losses

PRESIDENT SamiaSuluhu Hassan expressed huge sadness over massive economic losses caused by the major fire incident that engulfed the popular Kariakoo Market in Dar es Salaam on Saturday night.

Hundreds of stores were burned down to ashes after a fire engulfed the country’s largest market, destroying property worth billions of shillings.

The blaze broke out at about 19 hours on Saturday and quickly spread through the upper floor, reducing most shops and offices to ashes. The fire service department as well as private fire fighter companies put a number of fire tenders into service and brought the blaze under control in about fivehours.No deaths or serious injuries have been reported in the fire so far.

President Samia ordered security organs to immediately investigate the fire incident which gutted the iconic Kariakoo market, which also serves neighbouring countries.

The Head of State acknowledged that the Kariakoo fire accident brought a huge loss to not only businesspeople but also the government.

“The Kariakoo major market is the biggest market in Dar es Salaam which hosts a large number of businesspeople, thus the burning of this facility has definitely caused a big loss to tenants and owners of the old market in the country,” she said in a statement issued to the media yesterday.

She stressed that apart from hosting a large number of traders, the place is a business hub for East African countries.

Due to importance of the market in the city centre, the president had last month visited the place to observe operations at the market where she suspended the management of the Kariakoo Market Corporation (KMC) for massive irregularities in the operation of the country’s largest shopping centre and issued several directives meant to improve way of conducting activities.

She also ordered security organs to conduct a probe into the state of affairs at the market, which serves the country and neighbouring nations, for further action.

She said she had received some concerns and decided to visit the market to personally witness the problems facing traders, taking into account that Kariakoo accumulates a large chunk of all businesses undertaken in the country,” she said.

“After going around and speaking to some of you, I got a clear picture of how things are being carried out here, and unfortunately I am not pleased,” she was quoted.

The President therefore ordered an inquiry on the entire operations of the Kariakoo Market due to unpleasant conditions discovered inside and outside the market.

Among major issues include the coordination and arrangement of goods at the market as well as hygiene management.

According to the President, the government has always held clear intentions of supporting petty traders since the late President Dr John Magufuli’s era.

As she made her way through the lined up stalls within the market, the traders kept on blaring and raising voices against ‘hefty charges’ while cheering ‘the savior has come’.

Having spoken to some of the traders at the market, President Samia discovered that the fee system was not favorable in supporting business growth for small traders. The fees, she said, only generated profit for the people at the top.

She observed that the available plan on entry of goods does not give a relief to the traders, thus ordered an assessment to see if the current management should proceed with their current roles or rather the roles should be directed to the City council.

President Samia expressed concern on the arrangement of the different arrays of goods allocated in various sections, noting that such arrangements do not support buyers to easily trace goods.

“The current set up is a mix and match, a person who sells sewing machines is located at the centre of a person who sells animal products, this is not proper at all,” she said.

She called upon the traders to proceed with usual businesses without any disturbances, urging them to abide by the set regulations and laws of the land.

“I have vividly witnessed all pathways and blocked roads, I will sit with the City Council to come up with a good working arrangement which will be adopted by the government,” stated the President.

The traders had earlier listed down the challenges they face to enter goods into the market due to the piled petty business along the walkways and roads.

The other challenges included hefty stall charges, heavy fees on goods and huge transportation costs of goods from other markets to Kariakoo.

Meanwhile, the Head of State yesterday directed the security forces to find out what leads to fire accidents occurring several times in schools owned by religious institutions.

Her directive over fire accidents in schools under religious institutions came after a reported fire outbreak at A town Islamic girls boarding Secondary School in Morogoro Region on Saturday.

President Samia directed the security forces in collaboration with the religious associations to investigate sources of the incidents in schools and come up with measures to control them.

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