MBARARA – Traders under the umbrella Mbarara City Traders Association [MBACITA] have launched a fundraising drive aimed at buying a fire truck. This follows recent fire outbreaks that destroyed properties worth billions of shillings in the city.
While launching the fundraising drive on Tuesday at Adit Mall in Mbarara City, Simon Mwijuka, the chairman MBACITA told traders that the fire truck will be a solution to delays by the police to save people’s properties when a fire breaks out.
“On many occasions, the police have been disappointing us when it comes to fire outbreaks. This time, we are saying that before we condemn the police, what can we do to save our businesses from fire outbreaks?” Mwijuka said.
He said Shs 148 million is required within three months to purchase a fire truck from China, noting that fire outbreaks in happened twice in Mbarara City last month.
He said they can raise the money from 40,000 shop owners in Mbarara City, although they are only targeting 20,000 open businesses and 260 companies to raise funds for the purchase of the fire lorry.
“We have already opened an account in Stanbic Bank Mbarara Branch. We are calling upon all the well-wishers, companies, traders, individuals, schools, institutions, bankers, politicians to contribute to this noble cause,” Mwijuka said.
Robert Kanusu, the resident city commissioner Mbarara City North commended the businessmen for coming up with an idea to buy fire lorry.
“Government knows all the risks in the urban areas but because of the limited resources, government cannot provide everything and that’s why I am commending Mbarara City traders for coming up with an initiative to buy firefighting equipment to serve the community,” Kanusu said.
Kanusu encouraged other urban cities to embrace the idea of purchasing firefighting equipment. “Once the fire fighting truck is purchased, it will be a very big step and all the other 10 cities are likely to come to Mbarara to benchmark on how we are able to manage the urban risks and disasters,” he said.
Rodgers Betunga, an agro-chemical dealer also embraced the idea of purchasing a fire fighting truck but challenged the city leadership to investigate the root cause of fire outbreaks in Mbarara City.
“Look at Mbarara Secondary School; it was torched twice, recently Welden School and timber workshops were burnt to ashes. Let’s get a report about the cause of these fires in the city,” Betunga said.
Mwijuka also said that Mbarara City traders will again launch a SACCO to mobilise funds to support themselves in businesses. “Come November 1, 2023, we shall officially launch MBACITA SACCO to act as our bank,” he said.
https://thecooperator.news/fire-guts-timber-workshops-in-mbarara-city/
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