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The Kumasi Kejetia market has been ordered temporarily closed by the Ministry of Local Government, Decentralization, and Rural Development until further notice.
According to the ministry, this will allow the technical and security organizations looking into the fire event that happened last Wednesday, March 14, 2023 enough time to determine the precise cause of the fire.
On March 14, 2023, in the evening, a fire completely destroyed the Kumasi Kejetia Market, burning products worth thousands of Ghana cedis.
A day after the fire event, the market was shut down to allow for the start of the inquiry process.
Osei Bonsu Amoah, the Minister of State Designate in Charge of Local Government, revealed that the Ministry will form a commission to look into the fire event during a visit by a team from the Local Government Ministry.
The market is to stay closed until security organizations deem it secure for it to reopen, according to Mr. O.B. Amoah’s directive.
He further stated that the market would remain shut until the detectives and security organizations had completed their analysis.
“The initial closure period is three days but depending on the advice of the consultants and the stakeholders, it could go beyond three days; it could be a week, it could be three weeks, or even more, and for our safety we will extend the period to let the committee do its work,” he added.
The Kumasi mayor, who was a member of the team, also guaranteed that the Metropolitan Assembly would see to it that procedures were completed more quickly so that the merchants could get back to work as soon as possible.
Nana Kwasi Prempeh, president of the Federation of Kejetia Traders Association, applauded the local government minister for expressing worry about the Kejetia market’s growth.
But he begged the Local Government Ministry to allow the Kejetia merchants a chance to be heard during the committee meeting.
He also indicated that closing the full market would have an adverse economic impact on their clients and that it would be preferable for businesses to avoid the affected areas.
Source: Ghanatodayonline.com
