Kasoa Market Up In Flames

By Stephen Kwabena Effah, Kasoa
Wednesday, 07 November 2007

IT was tears and wailing at Ka-soa, in the Central Region, yesterday when the residents woke up to the news that the warehouse at the local market with goods worth millions of cedis in it had been gutted by fire.

The most affected traders, who got to the scene minutes after the incident, wailed uncontrollably as they looked on helplessly while the personnel of the Ghana National Fire Service (GNFS) assisted by some residents fought desperately to extinguish the fire. It took them about five hours to bring the fire under control.

Five traders collapsed at the sight of the destruction and were rushed to hospital where they were treated and discharged.

Although the cause of the fire was not immediately established, a number of the traders the Times spoke to on arrival at the scene at about 6am, said it could be a deliberate act by someone for some unknown reasons.known reasons.

Mr. Peter Abbey, Weija Fire station officer, said it was too early to determine the cause of the fire, but indicated: "We will probe the cause."

He said it took personnel of the service so much time to put out the fire because, they had no breathing apparatus and masks. Besides the market lacks fire hydrants.

He said his team arrived at the scene at 5am and was later joined by personnel from Accra city, Agona Swedru and the GNFS headquarters.

An eyewitness said that the warehouse, which has no electric power supply, was filled to capacity on Monday evening with various goods for yesterday’s marketing activities.

Abraham Quansah, a security man at the market, told the Times that at about 4:30am he and his colleagues saw smoke emanating from the warehouse which alarmed them and so they went to find out the cause of the smoke.

He said on reaching the warehouse, they realised it was on fire so they quickly organised some people around at the time to help retrieve the goods but that was not possible as they could not find the keys.

"When we realised the warehouse had been locked, we forced the locks open but could not do much since the smoke had completely engulfed the warehouse and we could not see anything," he told the Times.

Mr. Quansah said they called the Ghana Fire Service which later arrived at the scene to fight the fire.

A victim of the fire, Joana Asare, a footwear dealer, said she lost all her goods valued at seven million cedis .

She said when she heard the news that the warehouse was gutted, "I couldn’t control myself as I cried and rushed to see things for myself. Now, I have lost my capital and I don’t know how I would refund the ¢3 million I took from the bank last December.

Hajia Hawa Okwan, another victim, told the Times that she was on a hospital bed when someone called her on phone to inform her about the fire. "I fell from my sick bed," she said and showed this reporter the bruise on the cheek.

She said she has invested almost ¢80 million in her wax-print business. "I have lost everything. I’m now worried as to where to get money to pay the ¢20 million loan I took and some wax-prints I took on credit from some traders at the Makola Market.

Akua Afriyie, a member of the Kasoa Urban Council, who said she used her four bedroom house at Accra Newtown as a collateral to facilitate a ¢750 million bank loan for some traders in the market, told the Times that she was worried as to how the money would be repaid.

The District Chief Executive of the Awutu-Effutu-Senya District, Solomon Abam Quaye, who was at the scene, said that the warehouse was originally among the sheds at the mark but was converted into a warehouse.