Fire guts parts of Makola market

Some portions of the Makola market opposite the Ghana Law School in Accra have been guttered by fire.
The inferno which occurred on the dawn of Saturday destroyed about 46 shops.
It was unclear what caused the fire outbreak but the affected area has been cordoned off for investigations to be conducted by state institutions in charge.
Deputy Minister for Interior, James Agalga visited the scene on a fact finding mission and has directed the investigative bodies to fast track their investigations.
Mr. Agalga appealed to the affected persons to cooperate with the security agencies in their investigations.
He pledged government’s steadfastness to implement the recommendations of the investigative bodies to curtail such disasters if they are found to be man-made in nature.
The Deputy Interior Minister bemoaned the rate at which the firestorms were occurring in recent times particularly at major markets in the nation’s capital and reiterated government’s commitment to protect people’s properties in the various markets.
He commended the Ghana Fire Service and the Police for their timely intervention in putting off the fire.
Greater Accra regional police Crime Officer, Superintendent Frank Adufati explained to Citi News how the investigations will be conducted saying, “from the investigative point of view we are going to do the underground work that is the intelligent aspect to nose around and find out if these firebreaks are caused by human beings”.
According to him, the crime scene team from the Police Headquarters will then follow up with the physical examination and come out with their findings.
Superintendent Adufati gave the assurance that those found culpable will be dealt with to serve as a deterrent to others who might be harbouring such evil intentions.
In a related development, some traders at the Kantamanto market who are still counting their losses have accused the Accra Metropolitan Assembly authorities of aggravating their plight.
A combined team of Police and the AMA task force on Sunday destroyed some temporary structures that were springing up in the open space of the heartbroken Kantamanto market.
The aggrieved traders accused the city authorities of breach of contract since according to them, the Chief of Staff, Prosper Bannie gave them the go ahead to put up such temporary structures until such a time government will be ready to modernize the market.

By: Abdul Karim Naatogmah/citifmonline.com/Ghana