Fire guts Old Parliament House in Accra
Fire Thursday morning gutted the old Parliament House near the Arts Centre in Accra destroying several items including documents of the Judgment Debt Commission.
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The fire was said to have started in the main chamber of the house at about 3:45am Thursday.
Fire fighters who responded to the distress call battled the fire for hours.
There were no reports of injury.
The Old Parliament House, located opposite the Kwame Nkrumah Mausoleam along the Accra High Street is where the Judgment Debt Commission, which has been looking into monies paid to individuals and organisations as judgment debts, has been having its sittings.
It also houses the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ), where its finance, public relations and research departments are also reported to have been affected by the fire.
Reports indicate that the main chamber where the commission has been sitting has been severely affected by the fire.
The reports said files and computers have been destroyed and that almost everything in the chamber has been destroyed.
According to Mr Dometi Kofi Sokpor, counsel for the Judgment Debt Commission, they rounded up their activities for the year on Wednesday December 18, 2013 and were billed to resume work on January 6, 2014.
Even though he could not tell what exactly has been destroyed as of now, he explained that the documents that were being kept in the office were all photocopies and that new copies could be obtained from the agencies and departments that supplied them.
Speaking on Joy FM, an Accra based radio station, Mr Sokpor said the documents included reports of the Auditor General and audited accounts of some institutions.
He was of the hope that the fire will not affect the work of the commission in any way and said they expect government to provide them with an alternative office accommodation.
