Gas explosion: Online petition gathers steam

A concerned Ghanaian by name of Abena Awuku has started an online campaign to have Ghana enforce laws on the siting of filling stations across the country.

Ms Awuku is seeking to gather 10,000 online signatures which will be forwarded to President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo to encourage him enforce filling station regulations in the country.

The petition comes on the back of Sunday’s [October 8] gas explosion at Atomic Junction in Accra where seven people lost their lives and several others sustained various degrees of injuries.

The country, on 3rd June 2015, witnessed the worst gas explosion at the Kwame Nkrumah Circle in Accra during a rain storm where many lives were lost, but Ms Awuku believes the action taken by successive governments after that incidence is ‘appalling’.

She is therefore gathering signatures to demand the following:

- The regulatory bodies in charge of inspecting and approving permits of proposed locations for filling stations, at least 50 meters away from residences and 100 meters from schools and hospitals need to enforce these rules.

- We honestly do not need five filling stations in a neighbourhood. Shut down the excess filling stations and keep them closed.

- The Osu filling stations in close proximity to schools, hospitals, businesses and homes; the American House Shell Filling Station, which is right by offices, and many more to count in the country, are all disasters waiting to happen and the time to act is now.

Meanwhile, Vice President Dr Mahamudu Bawumia has promised government will deal with fuel station explosions “once and for all”.