The Pakistan Community after meeting with Local Government Minister Ben Phiri and Lilongwe City Mayor Peter Banda
* If the City is struggling with fire engines, we are ready to support and get them back on the road
* We have worked with the City before to maintain roads and service Council vehicles. Lilongwe is our home too—chairperson Rauf Chadary
By Duncan Mlanjira
Following public outcry after Lilongwe City Council failed to respond to house fires in Area 43 and Chilinde last week because its Fire Department has no working fire engines, the Pakistan Community in Malawi has pledged to help address this critical shortage of functional fire engines.
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The Malawi Pakistan Community made the pledge during an audience with Minister of Local Government & Rural Development, Ben Phiri yesterday, April 29 in Lilongwe, where its chairperson, Rauf Chadary, said the community could not sit back while lives and property remain at risk.
“We have worked with the City before to maintain roads and service Council vehicles. Lilongwe is our home too,” Chadary is quoted as saying by the Local Government’s social media platform. “If the City is struggling with fire engines, we are ready to support and get them back on the road.”
The Local Government Media reports that Lilongwe City Council, which is serving a population of over 1.2 million, currently has five fire engines on its books, all of which are grounded, adding that such a number of fire-fighting equipment is meant “for a much smaller city”.
“The city’s fire department could not deploy a truck to either incident due to mechanical breakdowns affecting the entire fleet, a challenge the council has been battling for months,” says the report.
Minister Ben Phiri is reported to have commended the Malawi Pakistan Community “for its patriotism and timely intervention”, saying: “The spirit shown by the Pakistan community reflects the Malawi we are building, where everyone takes responsibility.”
He added that Government is ready to provide the necessary support and make sure Lilongwe City’s fire services are brought up to standards that are pleasing to the people — and that the Ministry is already engaging partners to procure new fire engines, with additional units purchased in Japan set to be shipped soon.
He stressed, however, that immediate repairs to the existing fleet remain urgent and on his part, Lilongwe City Mayor, Councillor Peter Alex Banda, wrote on his Facebook account, telling the Capital’s residents: “I hear your anger. I share it. I read all the comments on this issue. I have listened.
“Under #ListeningLilongwe# [slogan], we are digitising our assets and fixing our revenue systems so that we can properly maintain critical equipment like fire engines, he assured — and with emphasis that there will be “no more excuses”.
“Thank you to the Pakistan Community — you have shown what true citizenship looks like. Now, let’s get those engines up and protect our city,” said the Mayor, who added an emphasis that “the Council must not become dependent on charity”.
Early last year Lilongwe Asian Business Community also repaired two Lilongwe City Council fire engines following a fire scare in Lilongwe’s Area 2 which the department failed to respond on time due to faulty engines.
This week, concerned Lilongwe Resident, Wazi Ligomeka, reported on Facebook after he witnessed the devastation of a semi-detached house in Area 17 (behind Kamuzu Institute), just about 5kms from the City Centre.
He reported that the house burnt completely to the ground, “not because help was too far away, but because the fire department had no working fire vehicle.
“This was a semi detached house,” he informed the public. “The fire started in one unit and slowly spread to the next. We did everything we could, rushing in, salvaging what we were able from the neighbouring home — but the flames kept growing, intense and unstoppable, creeping from one house to the other.
“Several people called the fire department. The response was always the same: ‘We don’t have a working fire vehicle. We will try to contact the army at Airwing for assistance.’
“No one came. For three long, painful hours, we stood there watching homes and livelihoods turn to ashes. Helpless.
“This should never happen in a capital city. Maybe someone in a position of authority will see this and take action. Lilongwe cannot have a fire department without a functioning fire engine,” he lamented.
The immediate responses expressed sadness over the incident, with a general feeling that “the only thing worse than this is an accurate reflection of our national readiness for disasters and major accidents”.
State of fire engine for the Old Capital, Zomba
Teekay Tee suggested that, perhaps, there is a “need to have a private functioning fire company”, while Sangwani Khoza said: “This is heartbreaking and deeply concerning … to the families who have lost their homes and belongings under such circumstances.
“It is unacceptable for a capital city to be without a functional fire response when lives and livelihoods are at risk. This incident highlights serious gaps in emergency preparedness, equipment availability, and response systems.
“Urgent action is needed not only to restore capacity, but to ensure such a failure never happens again. A reliable and fully equipped fire service is not a luxury, it is a basic necessity!”
On her part, Lauryn Nyasulu said: “It’s a painful reality. Emergency and disaster preparedness ndi zero…sadly, we wait for things to happen and there is no sense of urgency in this country”.
Mwayi Woyamba Lusaka, who experienced the same scenario in Mzuzu sometime back, said: “Safety is not a priority in Malawi. We fly in local planes that are not safe, killing the public figures. We ignore safety measures at sporting events flouting the rules. That’s Malawi, pretending to be a state.”
Precious Chikaoneka agreed, observing that “even the operational readiness of [fire engines] at the airports is suspect. We are just lucky we have not had a serious emergency for them to deal with”.
Another commentator observed that the country’s fire departments have been under-resourced for a long time such that “many people have lost their property due to their inability to have water in the trucks or not showing up entirely”.
“If Malawi was a developed country, the fire department would have had many pending lawsuits,” said Linje Ile, while Lawrence Katunga observed that political party manifestos mention “very little or nothing about emergency services”.
Canada-based economic expert, James Kadyampakeni said: “What a shame. And you have a President spending K67 billion in 3 months! Yea and he wanted to come back? Why are Malawians not angry? Are you surprised one cannot get affordable property insurance in Malawi?”
