General Manager Ing. Dr. Clifford Braimah has slammed the Ghana National Fire Service for blaming the Ghana Water Company Limited (GWCL) over their inability to fight the Makola Hong Kong Market fire on Monday.
The manager said they had no plans of responding to the claims against the GWCL but they got disappointed when the GNFS organized a press conference to attack GWCL.
He told journalists that the GWCL cannot be blamed for the inefficiencies of the GNFS.
He described as lies claims by the GNFS that the hydrants in the area where the GNFS recorded the fire were not working.
The Ghana National Fire Service at a press conference blamed the Ghana Water Company Limited (GWCL) of failing to supply them with water on time to battle the fire that gutted a three-story building at the Makola Market in Accra.
Speaking to the press, the Public Relations Officer of the Ghana National Fire Service, Ellis Robinson Okoe, blamed the Ghana Water Company Limited as well as the Electricity Company of Ghana for their unresponsiveness.
“We had the first call at 9:41 am [on Monday], however, because of the situation on the ground, we needed additional pumps. It is not to say that the Fire Service went to the grounds without any water. For security purposes, we always rely on ECG to disconnect the power in the area to make sure the responders are safe. It is not to say that they [our team] never went, and they were scared. Rather, we saw the need for them to have more backup so that they can storm the building.”
“Of all the responders, the Ghana National Fire Service was the only fire agency that stormed the building. We had to call for extra pumps. I was very much disappointed because we had an arrangement with Ghana Water Company Limited contractors to supply us with water, unfortunately, they did not come, and the message I had from my operations officer was that the last time they [GWCL] were given coupons instead of cash.”
“If you never complained about receiving coupons instead of cash at that time, but decided to keep quiet until another outbreak of fire to disappoint the Fire Service, it’s quite unfortunate. We had to bring extra resources. The army and police came for protection purposes, Aviation was about to come, but I stopped them because I thought the fire was under control.”
But the General Manager who had joined the Accra East Region to respond to the claims refuted them insisting that the GNFS was inefficient.
He said the blame game is not helpful because the two institutions are state institutions but the GNFS churn out false claims against his outfit.
He further revealed the GWCL asked the GNFS to do an audit of the hydrants and tell them which ones were faulty but since 2018, they have refused to do it.
By: Rainbowradioonline.com
