The Ghanaian Politics Of Fire Outbreaks At Markets

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Two days ago, we had the misfortune of another market fire under circumstances as bizarre as the previous ones spread across Accra and Kumasi. It is instructive that the latest one struck before the dust and political controversy generated by the Kantamanto fire settled down.

We have not observed any attempt to investigate the Kantamanto Market fire outbreak anyway; certainly not when all the tell-tale pointers that could help the investigators have all been cleared from the fire scene under the instructions of state agents. Yet, such agents have been so vociferous in the aftermath of the fires that, question marks have been rightly spun around their conduct and posturing.

Be that as it may, we have been visited by another fire in a market which is markedly different from the other markets in the nation?s capital, in terms of its features. Being a modern market, it was constructed following the questionable fire outbreak which destroyed the original Makola Market No. 2 not far from what was known as Selwyn Market in Accra.

Being a modern market run by a Makola Market Company with access roads for vehicles, including fire engines et al, it stands apart from other facilities in town. It was beyond the ken of many, therefore, that the fire could rage stubbornly and render ineffective the attempts by firefighters to arrest it.

Markets in Accra appear to be under a certain spell suffering strange fires and drawing all manner of political remarks by mostly persons holding state appointments about their causes even when firefighters have been virtually stopped from probing the infernos.

The scene at the Makola No 2 Market, after the strange fire razed the place, was melancholic as the victims shed tears uncontrollably over their loss.

In the absence of any investigation into the fires, credible or otherwise, politicians have been offered a field day to pass adrenalin-raising remarks, the most profound of which is that they were the handiwork of enemies of the government.

We are saddened by such politically-charged remarks by persons who have been associated with the two fires of Kantamanto and now Makola No 2. The two persons who share similar surnames have thwarted any attempt at probing the fires, yet they mount the high moral horse and hurl innuendos at their opponents on the other side of the divide.

Why don?t we get decent in the way we manage such tragedies which for most part of the populace were arguably started by agents of the state such as the AMA anyway? Much as we would be hard-pushed associating ourselves with such allegations, we are constrained to recall, regrettably though, that even the President remarked that there was more to the fires than meets the eye. So why don?t we have the names of those behind the so-called politically motivated arsons. Hmm!

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