The Chairman of the Petty Traders Association, Nana Akwasi Prempeh, has criticized the Ghana National Fire Service (GNFS) for the extensive damage caused by the fire that occurred on Wednesday, March 15 at the Kejetia market in Kumasi.
According to reports, the fire began at around 4:45 pm GMT and ravaged several shops located on the first and second floors of the market, destroying properties worth thousands of Ghana Cedis. Following the incident, several stakeholders have expressed their condolences to the affected traders, and efforts are being made to ascertain the cause of the fire.
Speaking on Eyewitness News on Citi FM, the petty traders' chairman blamed the GNFS for the extent of damage caused by the fire. He stated that the Fire Service could not absolve itself from the unfortunate incident as it would not have happened if the necessary firefighting equipment had been put in place at the market.
“If the firefighting system in the market had been activated earlier, we think the extent of damage that was caused in the market would have reduced drastically because there were instances where we realized that there was no flow of water in the nearby water hydrant. They had locked the water, and there was no alarm warning to indicate that there was going to be some fire,” he said.
The petty traders' chairman further lamented that the market lacked essential safety equipment, such as an alarm system to forewarn traders, smoke detectors and fire detectors to alert the market traders of any fire outbreak.
In response to the criticism, the Ashanti Regional Fire Commander, ACFO1 Henry Giwah, revealed that the market management had some lapses in its readiness to fight fire outbreaks.
“We identified some lapses, we informed management of the market, and they promised to fix it for which reason we have not even renewed their certificate. We were going to make sure those things are rectified first before the outbreak happened,” he said.