UPPZ donates to COMESA inferno victims
By Francis Maingaila
Lusaka (14-07-18) United Prosperous and Peace Zambia (UPPZ) donated more 200 bags of mealie Meal to victims of inforno that swept over Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) a fortnight ago.
UPPZ president Charles Chanda told journalists after the exercise that it is the responsibility of every leaders to help the victims of misfortune society.
According to Chanda, the fire which gutted the second largest market in Lusaka, could have been avoided hard the government of Zambia invested in the fire engines.
He regretted that the fire department of the Lusaka City Council (LCC) failed to quench the fire which gutted the market because the choice of the engine being used are defective.
“If the government had bought the fire engine, the fire could have been quenched and the property and life which was lost could have been saved,” Chanda said.
He said there is no way the a proper fire engine which cost about $500 000 could fail to put out the fire.
He said it a shame that the government lied that the fire engine which was bought at an abnormal price.
Chanda demanded that the current fire engines failing to quench fire should be returned and instead bring better ones and the people behind that scandal brought to book for making government lose huge sums of money in procuring defective engine.
He said he has no apologies to make for criticizing the procurement of defective engine which has failed to produce results as evidenced in the gutting of the market.
Some beneficiaries of the donation commended the opposition UPPZ for coming up with an initiative feeding the victims of the inferno.
Astridah Ngandu said in an interview that she was devastated after her goods worth 30, 000 was reduced to ashes.
She said the mealie meal she has received from the UPPZ has come in handy because she literally had nothing to lean on.
Elizabeth Nkole on the the hand expressed gratitude that an opposition party has come up with an initiative of feeding the victims of the latest COMESA fire.
She said many leaders from the different political parties including UPND and the PF had visited the COMESA but none of them came up with an initiative of donating anything to the victims.
Meanwhile Chanda told the police that wanted to disrupt his act of charity to concentrate of their jobs of maintaining law and order.
He said there was no cause for them to get excited when they saw him giving mealie meal to the people whose goods were burnt.
He said there was nothing extra ordinary from what he was doing because some of the affected people were members of his party.
Three overzealous police officers attempted to stop the UPPZ leader from distributing mealie meal after accusing him of causing commotion at the market.
The officers suggested that, the act of charity would attract stamped because even the people who were not marketeers would be tempted to scramble for food.