Ghana Trade Union Association Jabs SSNIT on Makola Fire Outbreak.

The Ghana Union of Traders Association (GUTA) leadership has pleaded with the government to assist the business owners whose stores were destroyed by fire over the weekend.

The dealers reportedly lost thousands of Cedis in the fire, according to GUTA.

 

On Saturday, October 21, the Accra City Station’s specialized crew headed to the location and arrived in under two minutes after receiving a distress call about a fire outbreak at Makola at 2324 hours.

 

They brought in an extra 8 fire tenders after their initial assessment revealed that the fire was already underway and expanding quickly.

 

There were sent to the scene a total of nine fire tenders.

The ‘adept Firefighters’ effectively contained the intense fire around 4 AM, according to the fire department, preventing any injuries. There were over 200 perfume and wig stores that were destroyed.

Some of the stores’ walls were severely damaged by the fire’s ferocity, and as a result of the intense firefighting, they collapsed.

Despite the fire’s devastation, over 2,000 shops, ECG substations, neighboring banks, and other buildings were saved. It took firefighters approximately ten hours to completely put out the fire. Investigations continue to determine the origin of the fire.

 

The communications director of GUTA commented on the situation to TV3’s George Kwenning, saying, “As GUTA, we will support our members, but we expect the government to assist these business communities urgently as they have lost everything.

“We will meet with the building’s owners and the Accra Metropolitan Assembly (AMA) to discuss the next steps. The majority of our marketplaces are made-to-order ones that the locals themselves have constructed. There are very few markets in our area that have been established by the government, but the Kanehsie Market is one of them.

“This [Makorla] market was established by SSNIT, so it does not belong to the customer markets; this market is [supposed to be] well-structured, but we can’t say that; it resembles a ghetto. It is unfortunate that SSNIT established such a structure, but we are unsure of what motivated them to do so.