Infernos In Our Offices; Demystifying The Facts!

The 1983 fires which hit Ghana have been a major reference point in the history of our country and left an indelible mark in our minds. It caused a great deal of hunger and relegated many families down the poverty line with its devastating effect on farms, life and property. One may wonder if the fires occurring now, twenty seven years after are likely to have the same effects as a popular spiritualist in Kumasi prophesied on Thursday, 18th February, 2010 at a press conference in Kumasi. The spiritualist numbered a couple of government agencies that are yet to be swooped by this convoy of fires including the Christiansburg Castle, Osu.

The latter part of 2009 and the eve of this year have been characterized by wild unstoppable fires which scavenged important offices, markets and Government Residential facilities in the country. These begun, when, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs was burned beyond repairs, giving the government the headache to plan for a permanent office accommodation for the ministry. Traders at the Kumasi Central Market were not spared when they were slapped by the last of series of fires that hit the market in the past twelve months; leading to a lost of source of livelihood, and revenue to government. The Loading Unit of the Tema Oil Refinery has not been left behind; one of its loading racks was charred beyond recognition causing a marginal fuel shortage in the country. The ministry of information was on Wednesday, 17th February hit by its second fire in this period.

The almighty valentine fire that hit the former President’s family, the Rawlings’ on the eve of valentine day can not be left out in this nomenclature of disasters. This fire charred the official accommodation of the family into rubble and charcoal. These notwithstanding, there have been a couple of fires which have not attracted much attention, to mention the fire at the KNUST NAGRAT office and that at Sunyani Regional office of the Ghana Police Service. Collectively, these fires have destroyed property worth millions of Ghana Cedis which could have otherwise been channeled to the fortification of certain parts of the economy. However we should ask ourselves these questions and seek to find answers to them; what are the causes of these fires and how can we put a perpetual stop to these devastating fires.

Causes

Most of these fires speculatively, have arisen from electrical or electronic faults. Could this be as a result of the frequent power fluctuations we have been experiencing in the country? From Wednesday, 17th to Monday, 22nd February, there were frequent power flicks in Kumasi, particularly in the KNUST vicinity. Or could it be the negligence of us Ghanaians who work in such public offices? When we don’t switch off our air conditioners and computers after work and cause them to overheat after working for extremely long ours? Or as it may be, as a school of thought is; people are trying to sabotage the ruling government. Whatever our reasons may, the most important thing now is to look at the way forward to kill these fires which are devouring everything on its way. The way forward The panacea to this situation is a general change of attitude of the average Ghanaian. Workers should make sure that they have shut electrical accoutrements down before vacating the offices. We should also stop selling out land and building on lands which have been designated for purposes such as roads, and fire hydrants. Our electrical system should also be properly managed so that these ups and downs in our power system would be terminated. There is expectation that this would be achieved when the Bui dam is fully operational. The problem could also be solved by approaching it with an institutional strengthening of the Ghana National Fire Service to deliver a one stop solution to these fires, where it inspects and issue out fire certificate to all buildings that are being put up in the country. It is well known that the Service has not been able to adequately combat most of these fires which they attribute to the poor state of their resources. And to those of us, who believe in a spiritual cause, let us pray to our God for Him to intervene in this time of crises.

Conclusion

It is time for us to take our political spectacles off and fight towards a common goal. This is not the time to apportion blame or engage in blame game politics. Let us work together like termites in a caste system to stop these fires devouring our national assets. One would imagine the next office to be affected, is it the Kotoka international Airport, the International Conference Centre, the Jubilee House, or ...?. With our little efforts and our change of attitude, we can swallow these fires which are swallowing us up, to curtail a further occurrence of 1983 crises. God save Ghana!

Eugene Sam-Okyere Geological Engineering Department, KNUST, Kumasi. [Email: ugsam2000@yahoo.co.uk.]