Last week the Chililabombwe fire truck was involved in an accident on its way from putting up a fire. Apparently yesterday the Chipata fire tender was also in an accident although not as bad as the counterpart in Chililabombwe.
I am not here to criticize the tender. I already expressed my views on that. What I want to do is to prevent further accidents and hopefully to inspire leadership to do the right thing. You can’t spend $42million and lose it in less than 42 months. At this accident rate using laws of probability, we may not have any of them in two years time.
Three things could be wrong.
1. That these city council drivers are so excited about these trucks that they are over speeding.
2. That the class of drivers licences of the drivers are lower than the GVM of the vehicles they are driving.
3. That the vehicles may be cheap modifications that had no considerations for safety or for Zambian style roads.
In the 3rd point consideration, I say it with due respect because SCANIA is a well respected brand. In this article this deduction is simply assumption as we consider possible causes which may be a pattern under development. The 2nd assumption is one I know very well as a licenced truck driver. A truck is a heavy duty machine that demands respect otherwise it will be a danger to all. The 1st analysis is more psychological than political; as I have written here before, in Africa we are poor custodians of assets. Especially government workers here in Zambia; they abuse assets entrusted to them by the state and the tax payer. Most government workers would not last a day working in the private sector.
In view of the above resonance, I am proposing that all city council’s embark on an immediate training of its staff on how to drive, maintain and service not only the new trucks but the old ones too.
We only have one country and we must invest in it especially in attitude change. People don’t take care of what they have.
A few years ago I met a lady who drove a Mercedes Benz. She told me she had not had it serviced in six years. I wanted to call the Germans on her.
Always ask yourself “if this thing was mine how would I care for it?”
God bless Africa. God bless Zambia

-By A Tumfweko Reader