'Release report on market fires'

A former Member of Parliament for Ahafo Ano South, Mr Kwaku Baladu Manu, has called for the immediate release of the final report by the American experts on the recent fire outbreaks in the country.
The American fire experts report on the rampant fire outbreak experienced in the country should be made known to the Ghanaian public to guide our future actions and behaviours, he told the Daily Graphic in an interview on Sunday.

It will be recalled that in June, this year, the government requested a team of forensic investigation experts from the United States of America (USA) to assist in unravelling the mystery behind the cause of recent fire disasters in the country.

The experts were expected to complement efforts of local investigators in finding out whether there were any traits of arson to the disasters.

The Ghana National Fire Service (GNFS) sources hinted that the report on the investigation would only be made public if the authorities concerned deemed it proper.

Since then the final report is yet to be published by government.

Making the call, Mr Baladu Manu wondered why the final report, if it existed at all, had not been made public.

“This is worrying,” he pointed out and stressed that “the pressure for the final report to be made known, must not go down simply because the fire outbreak incident has gone down considerably.”

Mr Baladu Manu, therefore, expressed the hope that the government would heed the call and release the final report immediately.

He recalled that when the incident of fire outbreaks occurred in the country, some members of the ruling party, the National Democratic Congress (NDC), pointed accusing fingers at members of the New Patriotic Party(NPP) .

According to Mr Baladu Manu, the National Chairman of the NDC, Dr Kwabena Adjei, accused the NPP, describing the act as the work of detractors.

He said that the President was also made to believe same and even inferred publicly that it was political detractors who were behind the fire outbreaks.

“I suspect, the initial reasons given by the government as the cause of the rampant fire outbreaks before the American experts began their investigation, were not met,” Mr Baladu Manu opined.

In his view, the presidency and the ruling party need to apologise to the people they called detractors if the American experts report established other reasons.

By Kobby Asmah/Daily Graphic/Ghana