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Parliament expresses concern over fire outbreaks

Barton OduroParliament has expressed concern about the recent fire outbreaks in the country and called on the relevant institutions to take measures to avert such occurrences.

As a result of the situation, the First Deputy Speaker, Mr Ebo Barton-Odro, has directed that a statement made on the floor of the House on the spate of fire outbreaks in the country and the comments and contributions by members should be forwarded to the ministries of the Interior and Local Government and Rural Development and the Ghana National Fire Service to take action.

The statement was made by the Member of Parliament for Amenfi Central, Mr George Kofi Arthur, who said the situation was a very sad one in the history of the country.

He said available statistics revealed that  the country recorded about 1,500 fire outbreaks between January and May, 2013, most of which occurred in the major markets in the country.

The markets include the Kantamanto, Makola, Kaneshie, Agbogbloshie, Konkomba, Madina and Dome, all in Accra, adding that the incidents had rendered most traders unemployed because most of them had their savings and properties worth thousands of Ghana cedis destroyed.

He said it was, therefore, important that the relevant authorities put in place the necessary measures to forestall the occurrence of such disasters.

Mr Arthur said the industrial, hospitality and agricultural sectors would only be attractive to investors if they were assured that their factories, hotels, restaurants and farms could be protected from the ravages of fire.

He called for collaborative efforts  of all stakeholders to pragmatically resolve the issue devoid of any blame game.

Mr Arthur called on law enforcement agencies  to enforce the existing laws on fire safety by ensuring that an effective task force was put in place to inspect markets to ensure that electrical gadgets were switched off before traders left their markets.

Contributing to the statement, the Member of Parliament for Madina, Alhaji Amadu Sorogho, who is also the Chairman of the Ghana National Fires Service Council, said more goods and property worth GH¢7 million were lost to fire between January and May, this year.

He said so far the GNFS had been called upon to deal with 1,336 fire incidents between January and May, this year, while 173 lives were lost during the incidents.

He said it was painful that now that the government was making efforts to equip the GNFS, fire outbreaks were on the ascendancy.

For his part, the MP for Nadowli/Kaleo, Mr Alban Sumana Kingsford Bagbin, called for preventive efforts in the fight against the occurrences of fire outbreaks in the country.

He said the country needed to construct proper markets with the necessary facilities to fight such fire outbreaks in future.

Mr Bagbin expressed worry about lawlessness in the country, and stated that "In Ghana people interpret democracy to mean irresponsibility".

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