TRAGEDY struck the nation yesterday when fire gutted the residence of former President J. J. Rawlings.
Scores of sympathisers besieged the residence of the former First Family minutes after news broke that a blazing fire was destroying the property of the Rawlingses in their home at Ridge in Accra.
Many people have expressed shock at the fire outbreak, whose source was unclear but believed to have been caused by the intermittent power outages that heralded the downpour at dawn yesterday.
People from all walks of life trooped to the residence to console former President Rawlings and his family because the fire could have been fatal, judging from the havoc it caused to the entire building.
The nation must thank God that despite the devastating nature of the fire, nothing happened to the former First Lady, Nana Konadu Agyeman Rawlings, and her daughter who were in the house when the fire started.
The material possessions such as clothing, furniture and electronic gadgets that were destroyed can be replaced but the many priceless documents that were lost are irreplaceable.
Former President Rawlings, having ruled Ghana for more than 19 years, must be in possession of documents on his dealings with other world leaders during his tenure as Head of State but all those, including memorable pictures, are lost forever.
The Daily Graphic prays that discussions on this painful experience of the former first couple will not be clothed in political polemics but seen purely as a disaster with national consequences.
We think former President Rawlings’s persona was on display when he said to the press, “We came without, we will go without.”
Although there is no information about poor response from the Ghana National Fire Service (GNFS) to the distress call from the former first couple’s residence, it appears a lot more has to be done to deal with fire outbreaks more decisively.
Anytime personnel of the GNFS try to bring fire under control, they are able to do so only after it has caused considerable damage to property and, in some cases, lives are lost.
The Daily Graphic recalls the fire disaster that struck key national institutions such as the Ministry of Foreign Affairs building in Accra and the Tema Oil Refinery (TOR). The effects of these fires on national resources are legion.
We are not too pleased with the tendency to conduct post mortem after these national calamities because what is lost cannot be replaced.
The Daily Graphic thinks that in tune with the popular saying, “Prevention is better than cure”, our institutions of state should guard against the “what-went-wrong syndrome” and work hard to be on top of their mandate.
The needs of the GNFS have been relegated to the background for far too long, although it is a key institution to promote development and progress. Until disaster strikes, we do not value the importance of certain institutions such as the GNFS because the funds allocated to them in the budget are woefully inadequate.
Our economy is expanding, along with the erection of many buildings to house banks, hotels and offices, and yet the GNFS and the National Disaster Management Organisation (NADMO) are not being empowered enough to deal with tragedies when they occur.
The Daily Graphic believes that if we consider the work of the GNFS as key to our development agenda, we shall not sit down unconcerned while statutory authorities seal most of the service’s water hydrants, a key tool for fire fighting.
We call on the government to equip the GNFS with all the tools necessary for it to discharge its duties more effectively.
While the state looks for alternative accommodation for former President Rawlings and his family, the Daily Graphic expresses its heartfelt sympathies to the former First Family and pray that God will give them the strength to withstand the agony caused by the fire.
No comments:
Post a Comment