Fire Ravages Brikama Sandika Market Leaving Businesses Devastated
After the fire ravaged Sandika Market © PYFC
By Fatoumata Jaiteh
A raging fire tore through Brikama’s Sandkika Market in the early hours of 3:00 am on Friday 30th January 2025. According to eyewitnesses on the ground, the fire is believed to have been caused by frequent power fluctuations on Friday by "NAWEC on and off," they said.
The Sandika Market, known for trading goods from across the West African region, suffered heavy losses as vendors watched helplessly. One witness highlighted that when the fire started, "the watchman ran to NAWECE's Brikama branch and told them to switch off the current supply meter to the market, and later, when the fire was out of control, the fire service was then contacted, but unfortunately they came without enough water" to handle the fire.
Fire ravaging Sandika Market © PYFC
Earlier on Friday, 30th January 2025, the national executive committee of the "Banabana" Association in the Gambia (middlemen) visited the scene to assess the damage caused and discuss the next steps. One of the executive members of the association, Ms. Jai Ceesay, described the incident as painful and appealed for the government’s support to assist the people who trade at the Sandika Market for their livelihood. "We urge the government to step in and help the affected people rebuild their businesses, especially women; they wake up in the early hours of the morning every day. This is the place where they earn money to pay their children's school fees and even fish money," she said.
Speaking to Askanwi, the vice president of the Brikama Market Committee, Mamour Ceesay stated that while he cannot estimate the exact amount of the financial losses from the fire incident, he noted, “I can say that it's over a billion dalasi," adding that "this is the place where most food commodities from across the African subregion are assembled and later distributed to various parts of the country for business purposes."
Providing some figures to justify his D1 billion claim, Mr. Ceesay noted that "just yesterday —- a truck full of commodities worth D5 million got offloaded here in the sandika, and all those commodities got burnt in the fire as well." He highlighted that "very hard-working young people [are] operating in the Sandika Market, because sometimes when certain food commodities become scarce in the Gambia, these businesses people will go as far as Ivory Coast, Burkina Faso, and other countries in the subregion to get them.”
Fire ravaging Sandika Market © PYFC
The Market Vice President Ceesay expressed deep concern, noting that they recently used their contribution funds worth D1 million to purchase commodities for some women to sell, and after making a profit, they returned the money to the contribution coffers. He added that all those commodities also got damaged in the fire too. This, he said, was for the women to help themselves, but after buying the commodities from them, they are at a loss with many of those commodities consumed by the fire before they could sell them.
Mr. Ceesay highlighted that the damage to machinery equipment has been extensive, stating that replacing a Dynamo of one machine costs D75, 000. He explained that among the equipment affected are machines that separate husk from grain, grinders, and processors used for extracting groundnut oil. "In some of the shops, there are 10 to 15 machines each costing nothing less than D250,000; all got burnt." Additionally, Ceesay stressed that each of those machines cannot be connected to a single-phase meter, explaining that the machines require a three-phase meter, which costs nothing less than D23, 000.
“The only inexpensive materials damaged in the fire were items like a bucket of groundnut butter costing D700 and a bag of salt priced between D400 and D500,” said Vice President Ceesay.
