Firefighters Engage in Private Business

BARELY FOUR months after the Defence Minister and acting Interior Minister, Dr. Kwame Addo-Kufuor, inaugurated an 11-member council of the Ghana National Fire Service and charged them to improve upon the quality of their service and the welfare, Fire Service personnel in the Ashanti Region go about doing private jobs for business houses.

Credible information reaching the Chronicle in Kumasi last week indicated that some junior and senior officers in the service do not stay at post to perform their official duties.

Instead, these officers go out to repair fire equipment in some departments, companies and other institutions and also sell fire equipment to them. Those who refuse these services are threatened with closure of their business. According to the information, Fire Service personnel who sell fire equipment contravene the service's regulation.

"It would be recalled that, the then Acting Chief Officer in May 1999 reference number NFS/ADM/031/Vol III/7 wrote and warned fire officers to desist from the service without the consent of the chief fire officer which is in contravention of service regulation 1965, Legislative Instrument (LI) 461 Section 9 (h).

The source cautioned the fire personnel and the companies to desist from the act or expose them to the public and authorities for action. According to the information, if the fire personnel should engage in such business at all, they should register their companies and pay tax on their business they operate.

The source called on the Defence and acting Interior Minister to set up an investigative committee to look into the issue before it gets out of control.