A section of the Maridi County Electricity Power Company compound in Western Equatoria State got burned on Monday afternoon after a fire that started in the neighborhood gutted it.
According to the company’s director, David Nimeiri, the fire started from a nearby grassland then heavy winds blew it towards the company’s premises.
“I was not in the company compound but from the information I got, expired drugs were being burned by one of the clinic owners in the main market whom we cannot identify now,” Nimeiri said. “So the wind blew the fire and it caught some grass within the company’s compound that led to the burning of more than 54 poles. Thank God the fire did not burn the big generator.”
“We have now opened a case at the police station against all the clinic owners in Maridi main market because we have one person who said she knows who set the fire,” Nimeiri added.
For his part, the Maridi County fire brigade director, Captain Waridi Anthony Rezig, expressed sadness but said they are constrained by lack of firefighting equipment.
“I know citizens are not happy with our work but my message is going directly to the president of the Republic of South Sudan. People have challenged our work since the establishment of the fire brigade in South Sudan. I want to urge the president, at least this year, to look into the issues and the cry of the fire brigade. We need all the equipment to start doing what we were trained to do,” Captain Waridi appealed.
Maridi electricity company was established in 2010 by USAID to generate power for the civil population but was shut down during the 2015 Maridi crisis between the farmers and cattle keepers from Lakes State.