STATUTORY BODIES MUST BITE NOW (NOV 19)

THE explosion at Ablekuma NIC, near Accra, last Monday that reduced a warehouse to rubble has once again exposed the weaknesses in the country’s regulatory framework.
As expected, the blame game has begun, with the revelation that warehouses are not supposed to be sited at residential areas. It is unfortunate that as a people we have never been able to punish those who flout laws, resulting in calamities or major casualties such as the Ablekuma explosion.
The Greater Accra Regional Fire Officer, Assistant Chief Fire Officer Mr Ayarko Atobrah, blamed the explosion on the inappropriate siting of the warehouse, emphasising that warehouses were not supposed to be sited at residential areas.
The obvious question, then, is, which authority gave the owner the permission to site the warehouse at a residential area? Since district assemblies have statutory jurisdiction over physical development, that remit falls within the authority of the Ga West District Assembly, within whose administrative area Ablekuma falls.
The DAILY GRAPHIC feels the sense of frustration among residents of areas where some developers have decided to flout the regulations with impunity because of the failure of the system to deal with deviants.
This is not least expected in a society where vice has become a virtue and law-abiding persons are exposed to public ridicule and referred to as docile and weak.
There is hope, however, that the Ghana National Fire Service will be alive to its pledge to investigate the cause of the explosion, as it has been alleged that the warehouse belonged to a Nigerian business woman who deals in children’s toys and fire crackers.
It is very early in the day to draw any conclusions because it is yet to be confirmed that fire crackers were stored in the warehouse.
Our mantra with this revelation is that in November 2006, the Police Administration reminded the public that under Executive Instrument (EI) 21, which was made on September 9, 1999, the manufacture, possession or carrying of fire crackers, often known as knockout, display shells, artillery shells and ball and canister shells were prohibited.
The regulations about fire crackers are very unambiguous and it is our expectation that the axe will fall on the owner of the warehouse if it is established that the banned explosives caused the explosion.
The DAILY GRAPHIC believes that if strong signals are given by punishing public officials who connive with developers to site structures at unauthorised places, everybody will learn to make respect for rules the most virtuous behaviour.
The collapse of the warehouse brings painful memories of those who died through similar circumstances in the past because our statutory institutions, such as the district assemblies, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Town and Country Planning Department, shirked their responsibilities.
As we mourn the painful loss of the five persons and wish those injured speedy recovery, we call on the government to descend heavily on anybody found to have failed to discharge his or her duties well in the siting of the warehouse at Ablekuma.
We can no longer look on in helpless amazement while a few unscrupulous persons take the law into their own hands and condemn majority of the people to avoidable pain and loss of lives.