A day after the fire outbreak at the atomic junction in Accra, the entire nation is struggling to overcome the trauma from the calamity.
The attention of the whole world through the media has been diverted from good things happening to the loss of seven lives in the fire with close to 200 people seriously injured. Just like the fire outbreak in Kwame Nkrumah circle and the trade fair site the government has reacted swiftly by promising to do something about fire outbreaks in future with the promise to pay up the medical bills of the dead and the injured. This is a good move .
The president has promised his governments readiness to end the ritual of fire outbreaks. Nana Akufo Addo is the president of Ghana who has promised to find solution to the unfortunate situation. We need to allow him time to do his work through the existing institutions like NPA and EPA and the Fire Service. However, we need to provide him with tit bits of advice in order to work more on preventive measures than the reactions to fire outbreaks. The government must set up a committee to study the methods of approving applications for siting petrol and gas stations with the view to finding out whether they conform to laid down rules; the committee should be made to inspect existing and new petrol and gas stations to see whether their closeness to residential areas, schools and markets are proper. Residential areas, hotels schools should also be inspected to see whether the use of gas to cook is done properly.
Currently some educational institutions such as UPSA are up in arms against the siting of fuel and gas stations close to them. In view of the unfortunate developments they are right in fighting to ward off the siting of petrol stations close to their institutions.
A lesson learnt by us is that just like fuel stations that were burnt at circle, the trade fair site and atomic junction there are many fuel station, in cities and towns operating in lorry parks where cooking takes place alongside commercial activities.
it is advisable for all these stations to be examined with the view to evacuate the traders from the sites get the stations fuel stations closed down. While we wait for government would do to find solution to the problem of fire outbreaks we must move out of the country to look for best practices on how fuels are stored and sold to ensure the safety of our people residential and school buildings
Source: Alhaji alhasan abdulai
