Fire guts Chipiku stores  as looters empty shop

Fire has razed down Chipiku stores wholesale in Kasungu as looters took advantage of the situation to loot goods in the adjacent Chipiku local shop.

All the goods and property in the wholesale shop has been gutted by the raging fire so too the building.

However, the nearby just opened Chipiku local shop was not much affected by the fire but looters swiftly emptied the shop of anything their hands could lay on.

It took hours for the firefighters to come, long after the fire had already caused the damage as the fire engine was called from Lilongwe.

There are reports that the fire engine delayed because President Peter Mutharika was holding a whistle-stop campaign tour in Dowa and Ntchisi and stopped in the middle of the busy M1 road at Mponela in Dowa to talk to the people.

The fire engine was not allowed to pass through because the Head of State was talking to the people in the middle of the busy road.

Questions also arise as to why councils do not have their own fire-fighting engines.

As of now, owners of the Chipiku stores are counting the costs of the fire damage.