Ensuring safety, maximum security at shopping malls

Shopping malls in the country have become family amusement places as they occupy large areas enough to host large numbers of patrons.

It is a healthy sign to see shopping malls sprawl across the country and by extension bring great shopping experience to the doorstep of Ghanaians, especially those living in the country.

However, in view of these positives, one important issue we cannot gloss over is to ensure that there is total security for all patrons at all times.

This, we believe, must equally be the concern of all stakeholders.

We recall that when Ghana tragically lost one of her illustrious sons, Professor George Kofi Nyidevu Awoonor-Williams, on September 21, 2013 in Nairobi, Kenya, after he had sustained injuries in a terrorist attack for which Somali jihadist fundamentalist group, Al-Shabaab, claimed responsibility, many awoke to the need for security at our shopping malls.

Suddenly, patrons of the many shopping malls in the country became wary of the danger that lurked in not only shopping malls but all other public places.

The police and security agencies also sent out alerts that cautioned the public and asked people to become security conscious, whilst radio commentators discussed the incident that cut short the life of renowned poet Prof.

Kofi Awoonor who was in Nairobi to speak at the Storymoja Hay Festival, a four-day celebration of writing, thinking and storytelling, when the tragic incident occurred.

However, just like it happens after an incident of public concern has been flogged on the airwaves, time has succeeded in making the public go back to their old ways and everyone seems to have discarded the security consciousness that engulfed the entire country after the incident.

Six years down the lane on October 11, 2018, we experienced a roof cave-in at the Accra Mall which injured three persons and scared patrons as well as shop owners of the mall which eyewitnesses said resulted in anxious workers at the mall and most shoppers running helter-skelter for their lives.

Two months afterwards on Tuesday, December 11, 2018, the first mall in the Ashanti Region, the Kumasi City Mall, also had a part of its ceiling caving in.

Fortunately, because the incident happened in the morning at a time the shops in the mall were about opening for business, no casualty was recorded.

Again on Monday, May 20, 2019, a section of the roof of gate one of the Accra Mall reportedly caved in after heavy rains.

The incidents at our shopping malls point to the need to ensure that the structures housing the ever-growing mall population are safe and devoid of deficiencies that can result in accidents.

Definitely the huge structures will experience wear and tear as the years go by (the Accra Mall is already 12 years old), but maintenance must be the watchword so that the safety of patrons who flock there every day is assured.

Indeed, President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo hit the nail on the head when in a tweet on the Accra Mall incident last year, he encouraged Ghanaians “to work together to improve our maintenance culture.”

The Daily Graphic also believes that malls must always ensure that all security cameras are functioning.

Shopping facilities such as the West Hills Mall in Dukonah, near Weija along the Accra-Cape Coast highway occupy very large areas (it is on a 23-acre (27,700m² piece of land) such that ensuring total security for all patrons all the time may be an uphill task.

It is for this reason the Daily Graphic suggests that we begin to look at providing police security posts, not only to apprehend miscreants, but also to serve as coordinating centres in case of emergencies. We also need to have metal detectors at all entrances to screen visitors.

It would also be ideal to have a Fire Service Station close by if not on the premises of the mall, as well as a clinic, standby ambulance, working standard generator to provide power at all times, as well as good lighting and all other facilities that would ensure maximum security at our malls.