Residents and business proprietors affected by the CMB fire incident have declined the National Disaster Management Organization’s (NADMO) offer to relocate to an alternative site in order to receive assistance.
NADMO has reported that roughly 800 individuals have been affected by the incident. However, efforts to convince them to relocate from their current location have proven unsuccessful, as they are concerned about the possibility of being forcibly evacuated.
In an interview with Citi News, Daniel Odei-Appiah, the Korley Klottey Municipal Coordinator of NADMO, said, “Individuals involved are about 805 now on our records. We need to do auditing on that and also the structure that has been destroyed by the fire.”
“We need to know the number of structures completely destroyed and items that were in the structures. A disaster like this, we don’t need you here, we need to move you to a safe place and provide you with those things, but you say you are not going. I should provide you with the things here which is against the protocols.”
The Assembly Member for the area, Frederick Quansah, pointed out that residents have lost faith in NADMO’s efforts to provide assistance due to past instances where the organization has fallen short in delivering aid.
“Always when NADMO officials come, they just write names, and they don’t bring us anything, we don’t see anything from them. On the four consecutive times that we have experienced fires, they didn’t bring us anything, that is why I don’t want to entertain them.”
The fire ignited at approximately 5:00 a.m. on Sunday and swept through numerous homes and shops, leaving hundreds of residents in a state of distress.
The Ghana National Fire Service (GNFS) dispatched firefighters to the scene, but by the time they arrived, the fire had already engulfed several shops.
According to ADO1 Alex Nartey, a Public Relations Officer of the GNFS, there were numerous flammable materials present at the site of the fire.
When the fire was eventually extinguished, it had left numerous shops completely ravaged. Frustration and disappointment were palpable among the traders at the market, with many of them lamenting their devastating losses and stating that they had been left with nothing.