Accra Floods: Enough of the knee-jerk reactions – Kwesi Pratt

Mr. Kwesi Pratt Jnr, Managing Editor of the Insight Newspaper, has charged that knee jerk reactions are the biggest problem that we face in the fight against disasters like the flood and fire of a week ago.

“The problem with us is not that a filling station is located close to a community, our problem has more to do with safety measures and the lack of enforcement of these safety measures,” he stated.

Mr. Pratt is convinced that with respect to the positioning of fuel stations; insofar as people continue to create flammable circumstances and the necessary authorities look on without enforcement, we will forever experience disasters.

He bemoaned how open fires are situated within premises of filling stations and, by that, exposed members of the public to possible disasters. Annoyingly, it is then that authorities go all over the place trying to enforce laws after disasters have struck.

“Should we go and build our fuel stations in the desert and allow people to work with naked fire close to the station, would that in any way avert a possible outbreak of fire,” he quizzed rhetorically.

He further noted that even though clearing waterways was important, pulling down structures should be done legally. Demolitions must happen if necessary, but should be regulated as best as possible.

Mr. Pratt made these contributions whiles contributing to the Kokrokoo show on Peace FM.