US experts to help determine cause of fires – President Mahama

President John Dramani Mahama on Thursday announced that government would engage fire experts from the United States of America to ascertain the real causes of fire out breaks in major markets in the country.

He said much as no evidence had proved that the fire outbreaks were orchestrated, the spate and timing of the outbreaks had gone beyond the ordinary and therefore needed additional support to get to the root cause of the fires.

President Mahama announced this when he visited the Makola Number Two market to ascertain the extent of damage of the market that was destroyed by flames a couple of days ago.

Over 10 fire outbreaks had been recorded in Accra and Kumasi since the beginning of the year, damaging property running into millions of Cedis.

The trend has raised a lot of eyebrows, with politicians pointing accusing fingers at each other on various media networks.

President Mahama’s visit to the destroyed market was to sympathise with the victims and to tell them what government was doing to ameliorate their plight.

The President urged all the traders not to temper with their goods until their investigative partners arrived from the USA, saying “we shall allow you the victims to go and see how your goods are burnt but do not touch your goods as we are expecting some experts to help us to get to the root of these fires.”

President Mahama, who was conducted round the gutted market by General John Bosco Guyiri, Director General of Ghana national Fire Service, gave the assurance that after the reconstruction of the market, the stalls would be re-located to the original occupants and urged the victims to register with their leadership.

He said government would in the interim support the victims with resources to immediately commence their businesses, while the Micro and small Loans Centre would provide them with loans that would enable them re-start their trade.

He said government would introduce also new security measures that would curb the recurrence of fire outbreaks in the country’s major markets.

Madam Mercy Nii Gyan, Queenmother of the Greater Accra Regional Market traders Association, commended President Mahama for his swift response to the affected traders.

She appealed to government and all stakeholders to ensure that the re-constructed buildings were re-located to original owners.

Source: GNA