Former Mayor of Kumasi , Kojo Bonsu, has advised management of the new Kejetia market to immediately stop all traders from cooking within the trading space. 

His call comes after fire gutted the new market recently destroying thousands of items running into millions of cedis.

The former mayor while addressing the matter indicated that management of the market must have a plan which should be executed to avert future fire incidents within the enclave. 

“The fire that engulfed the market you could say it was a maintenance failure. I hear there were some carbide and something that brought the fire. So you cannot blame management for that. All cooking activities should come to a halt at the new Kejetia market,” the former Mayor of Kumasi opined.

Following the March 15 fire outbreak at the facility, aside from the shops that were directly affected, some other shops were asked to be closed down for a structural integrity test to be conducted before being allowed to operate.

The Vice President, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, says the briefing he received from the Ghana National Fire Service indicates that a fire from a trader cooking at the new Kejetia market caused the inferno at the facility.

According to Dr. Bawumia, the shop owner was cooking inside her shop when the gas cylinder she was using caught fire spreading to a nearby chemical shop, thus destroying 33 shops out of 8,000 shops at the market.

He added that the chemical shop owner amongst others sells combustibles such as carbide, turpentine and gunpowder which exploded.

A trader at the market was arrested for cooking at the facility but was later granted bail.

The Ministry of Local Government, Decentralization and Rural Development has thus inaugurated a 5-member committee to probe the recent fire incident.

The committee which has been tasked to make its findings ready within three weeks was constituted on March 17.