He said the process would start soon and that all the agencies were expected to reserve not less than 40 per cent of slots for women.

He announced this when he inaugurated an 11-member board for the Ghana National Fire Service (GNFS), yesterday in Accra.

“This will go a long way to improve our current ratio of one officer to 40,000 persons towards the UN ratio of one officer to 1160,” he said.

Chairman of the board is Mr Seth Kwame Acheampong, while members include Dr Albert Brown Gaisie, Chief Fire Officer and Mr Samuel Amankwaa, Interior Ministry and Assistant Divisional Officer One (ADO1) Susanette Akuki Debrah, GNFS.

Others are SUB/O. Jerry Appiagyei, GNFS; Mr Donan KoblaTay, Ministry of Water Resources, Works and Housing ; Mrs Helen A. A. Ziwu, Ministry of Justice and Attorney General’s Department

The rest are Mrs Florence Pul and Mr Emmanuel Adugbire Atenga, President’s nominees; Mr Rudolph Kuuzegh, Ministry of Employment and Labour Relations, and Mr John Oben Aseidu, Ministry of Roads and Highways.

Mr Dery said President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo had assured the ministry that all the agencies would benefit from procurement of vehicles and equipment from the Chinese grant.

He explained that the GNFS required modern equipment and logistics to prepare for any eventuality, especially on high rise buildings, and therefore tasked the board to find ways to help the service.

He said government was making efforts to procure more fire tenders for the service and that the board should assist GNFS authorities to opt for less expensive but equally effective equipment.

Mr Dery also tasked the board to help the service to follow laid down modalities   for the establishment of fire stations at 66 political districts, which were currently without presence of the GNFS.

He said data for the first two quarters of this year compared to last year indicated a considerable reduction in fire outbreaks in the country by 40 per cent and attributed this to intensive public education and involvement of stakeholders.

He asked the GNFS to position itself to meet the changing demands from the public with an ever increasing population and expanding cities and towns to safeguard lives.

Responding on behalf of the board, Mr Acheampong expressed gratitude to government for the opportunity to serve and pledged to build on the exploits of the previous board to improve service delivery.

By Jonathan Donkor