President John Dramani Mahama, has stressed urgent need to take a critical look at how the country’s markets are planned.
“It is time for Ghana to start rethink about how to plan our markets to prevent the reoccurrence of fires”, he stated, during a visit to the devastating fire disaster scene at Adum, the central business district of Kumasi.
He described the situation as very sad, looking at the extent of damage caused by the fire, which started early morning on Friday, March 21, 2025.
Three major storey-buildings, which contain many stores, hundreds of container shops, stalls and table-top shops, with merchandize goods running into millions of Ghana cedis were
destroyed during devastating fire, which occurred between the Hello FM and the Kumasi Central market.
No casualty was recorded, but two people, including a fire officer, were said to have been injured in the incident.
Lack of access road to the enclave between Hello FM and the Kumasi central market impeded efforts by fire fighters to control the blaze on time.
President John Dramani Mahama thanked officers of the Ghana National Fire Service for the prompt response, which managed to control the fire from spreading beyond the enclave.
According to him, information he received from the fire officers indicated that lack of access contributed to the inability of fire tenders to dose off the fire on time.
He extended sympathies to the affected traders and said he had asked NADMO, the Regional Coordinating Council and other relief agencies, to offer support to the affected traders, while efforts were made to rebuild the market.
