Laws on fire outbreaks must be clearly defined – Otumfour’s Atenehene to Gov’t.
The chief of Denanse a town along the Kumasi Offinso road in the Ashanti region, Nana Atonsa Yiadom II has stressed the need for the government to come out and explain clearly to Ghanaians, what the laws say about fire outbreaks and the accompanying punishment given to the offenders in the country.
According to the chief who also doubles as the Asantenhene’s Atenehene, the country has experienced scores of fire outbreaks especially in the market places, farms, offices among others but after such incidents had happened, Ghanaians never come across with any positive results after investigations had been carried out.
Nana Atonsa Yiadom II observed that the persistent silence coupled with non punishment given to the offenders in the acts are the root cause leading to the escalation of more fire outbreaks in the country.
The chief cited some traders who ignorantly flout the electricity bye laws in the market places among others by using harmful explosions in their shops and offices which in most cases cause fire to disturb the society.
He added that some electricians also use low and inferior quality materials to wire premises among a situation which he said, also contribute in no small measure to the fire outbreaks issue.
However, when fire outbreak occurs all what we expect is the attention of the fire service personnel to extinguish the fire, and then to be followed by probe.
The problem of the Asantenhene’s Atenehene is that though a committee would be set up for a probe, yet nothing positive would come out from the probe.
Nana said if proper attention is given to the probe and offenders punished to serve as a deterrent to others, the persistent fire outbreaks in the country would be curbed citing the fatal fire disaster at the Kajetia market which was linked to the negligence of a trader.
Since then nobody has heard about the punishment that the committee’s recommendations have doneto enable government to determine the kind of punishment it could be able to slap on the woman, Nana Atonsa Yiadom II pointed out.
