Another fatal Gikomba fire an indictment on city managers

In what is becoming a yearly ritual, a section of the Gikomba market in Nairobi caught fire yesterday morning. By close of the day, 15 people had been confirmed dead. While being interviewed by the media for the latest news on the tragedy, one of the senior policemen leading the rescue operation intimated more bodies could be found in the burnt out structures. Concerted rescue operations had to be put on hold for the safety of rescuers since gas cylinders could be heard bursting in a nearby building, intensifying the risk of more fire.

It would seem getting to the root cause of the fires that occasion great losses to traders at Gikomba is beyond the scope of the Nairobi County Government, and it stands indicted. As with previous fires, the refrain has been that fire engines could not get to the location of the fire because the scene was inaccessible and water points either don’t exist or are dry. While the experience from previous fires should have given the authorities a fairly accurate picture of dealing with a repeat situation, clearly, no lessons have been learnt.