News:
May 4, 2013
In the wake of this weekend’s fire outbreak at the Kantamanto Market in Accra, the Member of Parliament for Nanton, Murtala Ibrahim Mohammed has urged traders to learn the habit of insuring their wares.
According to him, traders especially in Kantamanto have no reason not to insure their wares as they have been witnesses to several fire outbreak incidents in that same market, during which many of their colleagues lost several properties to the fire.
Properties worth thousands of Ghana Cedis were destroyed when fire gutted the Kantamanto market on Sunday morning. Personnel from the Fire Service had a difficult time quenching the fire due to the location of the shops and the layout of the area
Affected traders who were struck by the unfortunate incident broke down in uncontrollable tears, some of them devastated because they had recently gone in for loans to stock their shops.
This is the third fire outbreak in two years at the same venue, a situation that has caused a lot of concern among authorities.
Speaking on Metro TV’s Good Morning Ghana show on Monday, Hon. Murtala Ibrahim Mohammed described the incident as regrettable, adding that the affected traders could have had a bit of relief if they had insured the wares.
He bemoaned the culture where many Ghanaians fail to insure their property worth millions of cedis only to lose these properties to some disasters.
Hon. Murtala Ibrahim Mohammed, further wondered why similar market fires happen only in the absence of traders who only come to meet the extent of destruction of their property the next day.
“ You realize that all the market fires over the years both in Accra and Kumasi happen either in the evening or at dawn, when there are no persons around to quench the fire as soon as it starts’’ he said.
He called for a proper structuring of markets to enable the Fire Service to easily access the markets in the event of fire to reduce the extent of damage caused to property.
Kwadwo Anim/Ghanamps.gov.gh