Latest of
the ills to have hit the nation, Ghana in the past months aside power and water
crises, unrests in some parts of the country as a result of robbery attacks and
killings, influx of illegal expatriates who have been terrorizing the locals in
mining communities et al, is the rampant fire outbreaks being recorded almost
every other day in houses, offices and market centers .Statistics provided by
the Ghana National Fire Service for the first three weeks in the year
2013,indicates that, a little over 240 fire disasters were recorded, fast
forward and five months on, the number we are told has sky-rocketed to an
alarming 1000 and over. Many of the citizens have been subsequently unsettled
by these fire cases and are at a loss as to what the causes of these fires are.
Quite a number of these fires have been recorded in major markets in the country,
notable mentions are fires in each of Madina, Makola number one, Kantamanto,
Agblogbloshie,Dome ,and very freshly the Makola number two markets.
After every
fire outbreak, we hear government functionaries and the security services with
the rhetoric and same cliché “investigations are underway to ascertain the
cause of the fire”. I am not too sure whether or not the reports and
recommendations that are given after the investigations are acted upon, but
then if they were then certainly some of these fire cases being recorded almost
on daily bases would not be the order of the day. A number of factors have been
attributed to these infernos, key among which are illegal electrical wirings
and connections, persistent power fluctuations [what we call [DUMSOR DUMSOR]],
unstable power supplies and then open fires left exposed by miscreants after smoking,
“chop bar” operators and market women .Amazingly, earlier this week we were
made to believe that even mice and rats can be agents of these fire cases,
sounds funny, does it not? In attempting to get to the root of fire outbreaks
of magnitude as the recent ones, I am sure the experts would not be ruling
anything out in conducting their investigations, and so might not overlook the
mice-rats school of thought. In another dimension, we are again told by ruling
party apparatchiks that these recurring and sequential market fires can be the
works of possible arsonists and saboteurs, a position shared by H.E the
president. The menace has eaten the nation up so much that the nation has
literally gone bed-ridden and if very fundamental and necessary steps are not
taken and effected, we might just “die” as a country, you can imagine the
thousands of; people who have been rendered livelihoodless, shops and stalls
that have gone ashy and the inflated number of homeless victims, clearly a
matter of great concern to the nation.
Developing and establishing a new business is extremely
difficult,funds-wise,but it is even more difficult resurrecting and
rejuvenating an already flourishing business completely brought down to ashes
by fire. A large chunk of these market women and men do not have their stalls
and goods insured, some also contracted huge loans from varied sources to open
these now fallen businesses, and so with virtually everything burnt; it’s going
to be mountain-height difficult to get back in business. We are told the nation
is cash-strapped, and so assisting theses victims we know is not child’s play,
but government and every other authority must make the effort. As we await the
reports on the findings and recommendations, we need to as a country, rethink
our safety precautions and immediately put in a number of restructuring
procedures to mitigate this ill. Major electrical overhaul in markets must be
undertaken and proper restructuring effected-security beef-ups in market
centers to purposely ward off miscreants who use city markets at night as
havens for perpetrating crimes as smoking and rape.
For those
who believe these fires are power-fluctuation-motivated, it is about time
regular power supply was restored so we move on. In attempting to reduce
drastically the spate of outbreaks, it is important that each household
acquires 3-5 fire extinguishers in-house for precautionary reasons so the
nation could get out of its sick state. Regular fumigation exercises must be
introduced in markets if they do not already exist, to flatten the numbers of
rats and mice there-in so those that are agents of fire outbreaks can be
eradicated[hahahahahah].It is scary how everything appears to be happening in
some sequence, I mean the infernos.
It is about
time authorities stepped up their game, stopped all the lip service ,actually walked the talk, and
effected their market-fire-disaster-victims-rehabilitation plans and quite
swiftly if they can .I sincerely sympathize with all those who have been
directly and indirectly affected by this disease[fires],my hope is that as and
when the compensation and consolation packages are made available[by government
,NGO’s, benevolent institutions and individuals],they would get to the very
people for which they have been earmarked without the politicization that has
characterized every national debate and social issue in recent times and
deliberate hoarding by officials in charge….for the ordinary Ghanaian needs a
sense and reason to live.
Story by
Kingsley Komla Adom
Ghana
Institute of Journalism
E-mail;kingsleykomla@gmail.com
7th June, 2013
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