Kejetia market fire Committee presents report to minister

The five-member Commit­tee set up by the Minister for Local Government, Decentralisation and Rural Development (MLGDRD), Mr. Daniel Botwe, to probe the fire that gutted parts of the newly con­structed Kejetia market in Kumasi, Ashanti Region has presented its report to the Sector Minister last Friday.

The Committee was chaired by Professor Theophilus Adjei-Kumi, a lecturer at the Department of Construction Technology and Management at the Kwame Nkru­mah University of Science and Tech­nology (KNUST) as Chair, Mr. Francis Koffie-ESQ, private legal practitioner and managing director, M/S Koffie and Partners, Mr. Kofi Ampong;

valuer, prop­erty manager and real estate consultant, Mr. Daniel Kwaku Denteh, deputy director general- National Disaster Management Organisation (NADMO), and Mrs. Emelia Ayebeng Botchway; regional coordinating director at the Ashanti Regional Coordinat­ing Council as members.

Presenting the report, the chairman of the committee, Prof. Adjei-Kumi thanked the minister for the opportunity given to them to do this work, which involved several engagements with several users and stakeholders of the market to arrive at its findings and recommendations.

Receiving the report, Mr Daniel Botwe commended the committee members for the quality of the report, and their dedica­tion which resulted in its timely submission.

He assured the committee of his com­mitment to taking serious actions in consultation with the relevant government agencies and other stakeholders to follow through with the implementation of the recommendations contained in the report.

“Government takes a serious view of oc­currences of fire disasters in major markets across the country in recent years, consider­ing the huge investments made by govern­ment into these markets,” the minister said.

He urged the Board and Management of the various markets to be proactive and innovative in their work to forestall any future disasters in the markets and also safeguard such national assets.