Yoruba chief’s palace razed by fire-one person dead
One person died, while property worth hundreds of thousands of cedis was destroyed, when the palace of the Head of the Yoruba Community in the Ashanti Region at Allah Bar in Kumasi was gutted by fire in the early hours of Saturday.
The fire was believed to have started from the room of the deceased, Fuseini Garba, who had plugged a water heater and left it on after a power outage on Friday night.
The power was restored at midnight when Garba, whose charred body was found when his door was broken, was fast asleep and so could not put off the water heater.
An eyewitness said some residents who had woken up about 2 a.m. on Saturday saw smoke coming out through the roof of the palace and raised an alarm.
In no time the fire had spread across the palace, attracting more people to the scene.
Intervention of Fire Service
The witness said the quick intervention by personnel of the Ghana National Fire Service from Manhyia, with support from the Kumasi Metropolitan Assembly (KMA), however, stopped the fire from spreading to other buildings, including the palace of the Moshie Chief which is directly opposite the Yoruba chief’s palace.
He said the court of the Yoruba chief where historic pictures of visitors to the palace, including colonial administrators of the Ashanti Region and other traditional rulers from Ghana and Nigeria, used to hang was completely destroyed, together with chairs and other paraphernalia.
Yoruba chief was away
At the time of the fire, the Yoruba Chief, Alhaji Ahmed Rufai Alao III, was spending the weekend at his private residence at Kenyasi on the outskirts of Kumasi.
Alhaji Rufai has extended his condolence to his people and assured them that the burnt palace would be replaced with a modern structure.
Meanwhile, a number of people, including some prominent personalities, have visited the scene of the fire disaster to express their sympathy.
Sympathisers
They include the Kumasi Metropolitan Chief Executuve, Mr Kojo Bonsu, who donated GH¢2,000, two packets of roofing sheets and 50 bags of cement towards the reconstruction of the palace.
Others are the DCE for Asokore Mampong, Alhaji Nurudden Amidan; the Serikin Zongo of Kumasi, Sultan Omar Farouk, and other community leaders in Kumasi.
The Yoruba youth have also provided two truckloads of sand and a seven-member committee has been constituted to supervise the immediate reconstruction of the palace.
