The victims of the recent Kejetia market fire disaster have been assured of the support of the government by Vice President Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia.
He claims that information from members of the Ghana National Fire Service (GNFS) indicates that a store owner who was cooking with a gas cylinder started the fire, and that it spread because of the combustible products that were being sold nearby.
After surveying the fire scene and speaking with the traders, the vice president declared that, despite the board’s earlier order for the market’s information to remain closed for another week, a portion of the facility that was unaffected by the fire will resume for business on Tuesday.
“In the wake of the fire that destroyed the market, we are here to sympathize with you. We are both equally impacted by the unfortunate circumstance, which is why I’m here today to express my worries. The market took fire as a result of cooking by one of the sellers, whose store was next to a nearby chemical shop, according to the GNFS and NADMO officers who showed me around the market.
You’re all concerned that since the market is closed, you can’t work right now. As a result of certain discussions I had with GNFS, you will begin working on March 21. Before coming here this morning, I spoke with President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo. He instructed me to let you know that the merchants whose stores were impacted will be helped, the Vice President stated.
For preventing the fire from spreading to neighboring establishments, he praised the fire officers for their excellent work.
We can all vouch for the fire officers’ excellent work in stopping the fire from spreading to other stores. I want to highly commend them because 33 out of 8000 shops were completely destroyed by the fire. Both GNFS and NADMO employees performed admirably, Dr. Bawumia said.
Furthermore, the vice president pledged that the government will rigorously abide by the recommendations of the committee formed to look into the recent fire event.
The government will implement the committee’s recommendations after conducting an investigation into the situation, he added.
The Vice President was accompanied by his wife, the second lady Samira Bawumia, as well as national, regional, and constituency officials of the New Patriotic Party (NPP).
The facility will be closed for an additional week beginning on Monday, March 20, according to a directive made on March 19 by the board of the new Kejetia Market, officially known as the Kumasi City Markets Limited.
This comes after a fire on March 15 completely destroyed the market and destroyed goods worth millions of Ghanaian cedis.
After the incident, the facility was reopened after noon the next day before being shut down for three days to allow for additional assessment.
The market’s vendors had pledged to disobey the order to keep the place shut down for another week.
The traders’ leadership has stated that despite the board’s order, they will visit the plant and carry out their regular operations along with transport providers.
