Committee to probe fire outbreak at Ministry

Accra, Oct. 26, GNA - Vice President John Dramani Mahama on Monday inaugurated an eight - member committee of enquiry into the fire outbreak at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs last Wednesday, October 21, at the Osu Castle.

The committee is to present its findings and recommendations on November 30.

He called on the members to come with recommendations that would serve as benchmark for preventing such occurrences in future. Vice President Mahama said Ghana could not continue to count on good luck when such events occur.

The Committee has Mr Kwaku Twum Boafo, an Engineering Consultant as Chairman, Mr Ken Dzirasah, a former Deputy Speaker of Parliament, Mr Robert Ayalingo, an Assistant Commissioner of Police and Mr Klu Agyarko Attobra, an Assistant Chief Fire Officer as members.

Others are, Dr Don Arthur of the Office of the President, Alhaji Ziblim Yakubu, Acting Chief Director of the Ministry of Water Resources, Works and Housing, Mr Morgan Brown, Director of Administration at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Mr G.E. Ofori, a Principal State Attorney as Member/Secretary.

The committee is to ascertain the cause of the fire which razed the 10- storey building.

It would assess the responsiveness of the Ghana National Fire Service to the disaster, review the status of fire fighting equipment at the Ministry and ascertain the extent of damage caused by the fire. The committee would also take inventory of valuable documents and equipment loss and enquire whether adequate back-up systems for the storage of important documents were in place. Vice President Mahama said the greater lost to the nation was the vast amount of diplomatic records that had been kept at the office premises since independence.

He said government would ensure that the committee's findings and recommendations were implemented.

Vice President Mahama said with more high rising buildings springing up in the country, there was the need to develop a fire fighting preparedness to protect archival materials by changing the manner things had been handled in the past.

Mr Henry Martey Newman, Chief of Staff, impressed on the committee to come out with a 'workable report' that would provide a formula to counter such eruptions in the future.

Mr Twum Boafo, Chairman of the Committee said it would begin work immediately to determine whether the scarred building could be repaired. He said they would also evaluate electrical and information retrieval systems and determine the preparedness of the workers in containing inferno.