Tanzania PM issues seven-day ultimatum for probe team to unearth Kariakoo Market fire

Dar es Salaam. Prime Minister Kassim Majaliwa on Sunday, July 11, 2021 issued a seven-day ultimatum for a newly-formed probe team to get to the bottom of the cause of the fire that ravaged Kariakoo Market on Saturday evening.

The popular market, which also serves East and Central African countries, was ravaged by an inferno that destroyed several shops on Saturday evening.

In an effort to unearth the cause of the fire, Mr Majaliwa visited the area on Sunday, July 11, 2021 where he told the victims that the government had set up a team to probe the incident and that it [the team] had a seven-day ultimatum to establish the cause.

The team will also provide professional advice that will prevent the recurrence of such accidents in future.

He warned that should the team establish that there had been any form of sabotage, stern measures would be taken against those to be implicated.  

The probe team – comprising of defense and security personnel - will work under the Dar es Salaam Regional Commissioner, Mr Amos Makalla.

Members have been taken from the President’s Office (Regional Administration and Local Government Authorities - PO-RALG) and the Prime Minister's Office, through the Director of Disasters.

Other members are picked from Defense and Security Forces including the Tanzania People’s Defence Forces (TPDF), the Police Force, the Fire Brigade as well as the Prevention and Combating of Corruption Bureau (PCCB).

The Tanzania Buildings Agency (TBA), Tanzania Electric Supply Company (Tanesco), the Attorney General and the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) are also represented in the team.

"If it is discovered that someone was involved in causing the accident, strict legal action will be taken immediately. The fire on this old market must be thoroughly investigated. Why should it happen now and not at any other point [throughout the market’s 47 years of existence]?” he enquired.

Mr Majaliwa urged traders at the market to remain calm as the government was working to get to the bottom of the matter and assured them of the safety of their properties within the market during the investigation period.

He said no one will be permitted to enter the market during the period that investigations into the cause of the fire were going on.

“You will only be allowed until the team gets satisfied with everything. At that point, you will be allowed to get in and remove the items that had been left after the inferno,” he said, noting that the accident did not reach the basement where all properties were still in a sound condition.

He said the government would talk to commercial banks that had lent money to the traders with a view to finding a way of rescheduling the loans repayments.

"The team will receive information from everyone who has a formal loan from financial institutions so that we can talk to the lenders for a possible extension of the repayment period. I believe banks will understand our plea,” he said.

The fire accident had come within one month since President Samia Suluhu Hassan suspended the management of the Kariakoo Market Corporation (KMC) due to massive irregularities in the operation of the country’s largest shopping centre.

Speaking early last month during her impromptu visit at the market, President Hassan also ordered security organs to conduct a probe on the state of affairs at the market and take further action.

 “I have 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 added.

She small scale traders were not being supported by the KMC and hinted that the market could be transferred to the Dar es Salaam City Council.