RECONSTRUCTING MAKOLA MARKET

MAKOLA recorded its second fire outbreak in five years last week and it was another sad spectacle as scores of market women wailed helplessly at the scenes of debris and ashes.
Days after the fire outbreak, the market women appear to be lifting themselves up from the gloom and warming themselves into serious business. As expected, some of the women who lost their wares in the fire outbreak have begun clearing the debris in preparation for reconstruction works on their shops and stalls.
Anybody familiar with the architecture of Makola can easily imagine the extent of damage that any fire outbreak would wreak. It appears that very little or virtually no consideration is given to safety guidelines when structures are put up at the market.
Stalls and shops are constructed in a way that fester congestion, making it very difficult for buyers and sellers to move around with ease. In the wake of the recent disaster, the DAILY GRAPHIC is alarmed by reports that some of the women have set it upon themselves to reconstruct the place.
While we appreciate the economic challenges these women may be facing, hence their desire to quickly return to serious business, we need to highlight the need to build well-designed stalls and shops, with safety precautions very much in mind.
We wish to call on the Ministry of Local Government, Rural Development and Environment, the Accra Metropolitan Assembly (AMA) and other relevant government departments and agencies to intervene to ensure that the reconstruction is done in a way that will ensure that any future disaster does not cause considerably damage.
For a market with the stature of Makola, it is unacceptable to allow individuals to put up structures with any material and without due regard to their safety and the safety of others.
The Daily Graphic wishes to echo suggestions that wooden structures must be changed to concrete during the reconstruction to check the uncontrolled spread of fires during any fire outbreak.
The market women need to be educated on the need to observe safety practices at the market, including the importance of decongesting the market to facilitate the easy movement of goods and people. There is also the need to educate the women on the importance of insuring their wares, stalls and stores against such disasters.
And while we place the spotlight on Makola, we also wish to draw the attention to conditions in other markets all over the country, since similar disasters may just be lurking.
The Daily Graphic believes that the recent fire outbreak in Makola should serve as a wake-up call to the relevant parties and stir them into action to institute appropriate measures that will help prevent such disasters in future.