It has been all tears, mourning and sorrow in the business community as property worth billions of shillings got lost

when a fire gutted the busy Kisekka market in downtown Kampala.

This was in the wee hours of Monday (August 30, 2010) morning. The market was founded in 1996. It may be recalled that in March 2008, it was Owino market which was victim of  a much more encompassing fire destruction which left many people apprehensive about what was afoot with Uganda in light of the then frequent incidences of fires in schools, markets and other business ventures.

It goes without saying that when a fire hits a business community, it causes disaffection among the affected people who, apart from being at a loss over losing their savings, their way of livelihood and support, they might be under shackles of  loans earlier secured from commercial banks and other lending institutions.

No wonder this was the most common lamentation among the over 40 shop owners who looked on in disbelief at the ash, burnt out and black and mangled remains of  their trading property items.

In the human history of catastrophes, floods, hurricanes, storms, landslides and fires rank highest in dealing devastating blows at humanity and if we were to learn lessons from history, we would be on our guard against them. But as experience shows, this is not happening.

Disasters and catastrophes may be man-made or a causative factor of nature at play. And even then, there are incidences when, for instance in the case of certain catastrophes, it could be man's activities which will have caused an abuse on nature that results in the regrettable incident.

It's unfortunate that man has failed or has continued to ignore a truism that when nature gets degraded, it gets angry and at one time or another, it reacts with a venom many live to remember.

And yes, there are structures and avenues in place to protect ourselves against calamities. The only problem is that because they do not happen on a regular basis, this tends to make us relax instead of taking precautionary measures.

An insurer will tell you that it's really not likely that your house, your business or factory will be in an accident, that you will be injured while at work or when traveling. Nevertheless, if this were to happen, it could be a disaster for you. The meaning of this gets to be more relevant in our present circumstances than it has ever been.

If you are to take the most recent fire events in our schools, markets, other business premises, residences, factories etc, as the base, you may be surprised to learn that  after the incident, the affected persons may not have taken pre-emptive measures or other means of protection against future eventualities. I would not like to say this is the curse of developing economies because that would be escapism. For all you know, it might only be the fraility of man at play.

Without fear of appearing like I am summonising, I would contend that it's my studied contention that insuring against many, if not all, possible accidents in our day to day activities is a thing that requires no emphasizing.

We own property or business merchandise. We have seen the fires and we know what they do to these and others human pre-occupations.

So, why don't we institute pre-emptive measures against this risk? My answer to this may not be as good as yours because of what I know from several of my experiences while selling insurance. One time I accosted  what in the industry we call a 'suspect' and unleashed on her a verbal artillery in salesmanship.

She responded that she appreciated my education to her of the need to be insured but that according to her, Jesus takes care of all her property. If you were me you could maybe have responded, "Please, don't tempt Jesus!"

In our present undertaking, if the shop owners at Kisekka market had insured their property before the fire incident, their insurers would be liable to compensate them for the damage and destruction that was occasioned on their property.

This would mean the  value/cost of the insured items as calculated to have been immediately before its destruction. If this was done, you would not have seen those miserable faces of the fire victims most of them declaring, "I am finished!" When insured, you can't be finished. So, watch out for that fire next time!