Fire razes Makola Market annex

Accra, Nov. 9, GNA - An overnight fire gutted Accra's main market - Makola Annex II - destroying goods valued at millions of dollars, officials and witnesses said Friday.

They said the fire started around 12 mid-night, spreading quickly to shops and stalls stocked with goods in the market situated at the central business district of the city.

Traders woke up on Friday morning to the shocking news of the total destruction of their wares.

Friday's incident was the latest to hit markets in Ghana in recent weeks.

Early this week, fire gutted a warehouse in the newly constructed Kasoa market, near Accra, while similar incidents have also been recorded in Kumasi and Takoradi this year.

Mr. Kofi Agyakwa, Financial Secretary of the market, told the GNA that the market lacked a proper security system, which contributed to the total destruction of the market. He lamented the pathetic nature of the incident and called on the government to come to their aid by putting up new structures for them and improving upon security in the market by using police officers instead of people employed by the Accra Metropolitan Assembly (AMA).

Mr. Agyakwa said this was the second time the Makola Annex II had been razed down by fire since its establishment in 1990, adding that, all markets across the country should be fortified with security personnel from the police or the army.

Division Officer II Michael Gabianu, Metro Fire Officer at the Accra Fire Station, told the GNA that he had a call about the fire at 0200 hours and quickly mobilized his staff as well as other personnel from the Ghana Prisons Service and Ghana Immigration Service to help. He said initial access was difficult since there were no security men at post to open the gate to the market.

"We had to struggle for 20 minutes just to break the entrance to the market." DO II Gabianu observed that due to intensity of the fire, one Fire Officer, Godfred Ofori fell unconscious and was admitted at the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital. He has since been treated and discharged.

He said the market also lacked fire hydrants, which could have been used to extinguish the fire. DO 11 Gabianu advised occupants of the various markets in the country to always put off fire properly after use and avoid use of multi-gadgets in one socket.

He expressed gratitude to all those who assisted to put the fire under control, especially personnel from the Ghana Prisons Service and Ghana Immigration Service.

Regional Minister Sheik IC Quaye told reporters it was the second such fire in the market in the past four years.

"This is worse than the last one," he said.