Traders demand support and safety for workers after market fires

The Informal Hawkers and Vendors Association of Ghana (IHVAG) and the Greater Accra Markets Association (GAMA) are calling on the government to urgently provide safe and secure working environments for traders, who lost their livelihoods some months ago in series of market fires.

Traders in Accra and Kumasi experienced multiple fires before the 2020 general election, all of which demonstrated the disturbing occupational hazards informal workers are subjected to.

The most devastating was the Odawna Market fire, which swept through the Pedestrian Mall.

IHVAG and GAMA in a statement said, it can confirm from fellow traders that the over 3,500 shops were ravaged and that goods worth thousands of cedis went up in smoke, and these same traders were to face the daunting task of piecing their businesses back together.

According to IHVAG and GAMA, this is not the first time workers and traders have seen their livelihoods burn to the ground and in turn left without any support. They sited similar cases In 2013, when a fatal fire affected the same market, while In 2015, an explosion at a petrol station near the market killed 150 people.

“Over the period, we haven’t seen any practical interventions for preventing fires happening in the future. Workers have been left struggling to do business with no assistance. The repetitive nature of these incidents is the clearest testament that officials have done very little to confront this danger of fire to prevent its recurrence,” the statement quoted.

IHVAG and GAMA are therefore making the following demands on behalf of the affected traders and workers:

That the President take immediate steps to implement his promise on 19th November 2020, to support the over 3000 affected traders who lost their means of livelihood in the Odawna Market fire with grant funding through the National Board for Small Scale Industries (NBSSI).That the President take immediate steps to implement his promise on 19th November 2020, to improve the infrastructure of markets by undertaking “a project of rewiring all major markets in the capital” and report on their progress through their respective MMDAs.

A full-scale investigation into the causes of the fire is opened across all the affected markets and the reports discussed with the traders especially on the causes of the fire outbreak.

Designation of at least one fire tender with officers stationed at the Pedestrian Shopping Mall and all other major markets across the city. Train and equip traders with firefighting skills and provide fire extinguishers at vantage points in the market with regular visits by the Municipal assembly to inspect electrical connections in the markets.

These demands, along with those made by other professional bodies, would go a long way to help curb such unfortunate incidents in the future.