DELEGATES at the just ended 60th Local Government Association of Zambia (LGAZ) and 13th Alliance of Mayors and Municipal Leaders Initiative for Community Action on HIV and AIDS at Local Level (AMICAALL) General Assembly held at Chrismar Hotel in Livingstone have recommended for the realignment of the Fire Brigades component in local authorities to make it more responsive to disasters.
The delegates recommended that the Fire Brigades must be detached from the Engineering Departments of local authorities in the country considering that their functions had little to do with matters of engineering.
They said there was need for the Fire Brigades to concentrate on the disaster risk management functions including the mitigation of the adverse effects of climate change.
This is according to the resolutions made by 530 Mayors, Council Chairpersons, Councillors, Town Clerks, Council Secretaries, Council officials, Senior Government officials and Cooperating Partners at the just ended joint 60th LGAZ and 13th AMICAALL General Assembly.
The Local Government Service Commission (LGAZ) must be approached with a view to exploring ways and means of establishing a separate department for the Fire Brigades as opposed to the current arrangement,” the delegates said.
Delegates also commended President Edgar Lungu for his commitment to mitigate AIDS in the local authorities.
President Lungu directed that the devotion of the AIDS Coordination functions be concluded without further delay by ensuring that the District AIDS Coordinating Advisors (DACA) were transferred to local authorities.
The Head of State said the move was necessary to safeguard the achievements which the country had made in the prevention of HIV/AIDS.
Mr Lungu noted with satisfaction that mayors, council chairmen and municipal leaders had committed themselves to develop strategies and activities in their respective areas to contribute to the global goal of ending AIDS by 2030.
He said this in Livingstone in a speech read for him by Local Government and Housing Minister Stephen Kapyongo at the official opening of the 60th conference of the Local Government Association of Zambia (LGAZ).
Good recommendation. This is a positive result of critical thinking.
Thumbs up.
nothing will change for as long as council bosses continue pushing their incompetent relatives to work in that department without any form of training because they get higher salaries than other workers , no amount of realignment will bring any positive change. rather start by looking at who gets employed in that department before you blame engineering department.
Progressive recommendation though more funding for training and modern equipment is required; I wonder why they dont come to England and buy these used Scania Fire trucks in good condition that are going for as little as £8,000 in very good condition.
i do not concur with the recommendation because in main countries the Fire dept fall under the State Police or work hand in hand
Please give examples of five countries where the Fire Services fall under the police and the roles don’t work hand in hand; they do coordinate when they are responding to a rescue emergency. Going by your assumption then the ambulance services may as well fall under Police.
Fire Brigade officers must be soldiers. Put the Fire Brigade under Ministry of Defence.
Jairos I agree with you, the fire brigade should belong to the Ministry of Defence. Firemanship is a call of duty and requires one to be physically fit and be knowledgeable about different fires and the media to extinguisher such fires. Zambian fire brigades use obsolete and outdated fire fighting equipment and yet we have the best fire fighting training schools in the region Kabwe National Fire Fighting School and ZAST in Lusaka. The fire brigades in Zambia have been wrongly accused of inefficiency and such vices much to the detriment of the noble cause. On the contrary the councils who are mandated to provide water, has terribly failed the fire departments across the country, as there is nothing the fire brigade can do if they run out of the 3000 litres of water most our fire engines…