Accept our sympathies, Mr Rawlings

ON Sunday, February 14, 2010, Ghana woke up to the sad news that the Ridge residence of former President Jerry John Rawlings has been gutted by fire. The fire, which was described by the fire workers at the scene as intense and fiery, was said to have started around 4:20 a. m., on that Sunday. The nature of the fire also made it difficult for the fire officers to douse the fire.

THE good news was that no life was lost. Unfortunately, the disaster left nothing for the former president and his family. All their acquired properties for over 40 years including very important documents were all buried in ashes. Sad and pathetic!

WE at Today are indeed shocked and aggrieved by the fire incidence at the residence of our former president, and therefore express our heartfelt condolences to the former first couples. We hope government would, as a matter of national importance, get Mr Rawlings and his family a temporary residence whilst a permanent place is found to accommodate them.

SPEAKING on Accra-based Radio Gold, Mr Kofi Adams, Special Aide to Mr Rawlings, attributed the cause of the fire to an electrical fault. According to him, this was something that his office had often been complaining to the Public Works Department (PWD).  He indicated that all his efforts to the PWD in that respect have so far not yielded any good fruits.

AND like a people with the attitude of that of the proverbial ostrich we always wait for calamity to befall us before we act. And that attitude is what has resulted in this latest fire incident. We cannot fathom why PWD did not see to the problem at the residence of Mr Rawlings when it had been reported to them.

FOR the past one year, Ghana had had some strategic buildings and facilities gutted by fire. These places included the ministry of foreign affairs, Information Ministry, Lands Commission and quite recently the Tema Oil Refinery (TOR). We have also seen major markets in the regional capitals of the country razed down by fire outbreaks.

IN whichever way we look at it the harm has already been caused. What we have to do is how we can prevent some of these fire outbreaks. It is in this vein that we are urging the Ghana National Fire Service to intensify its fire prevention campaigns.

WE must acknowledge the fact that there are some state facilities that must be routinely checked and maintained to ensure that such they are always safe and in good state. Have we been doing these regular checks and maintenance on our state institutions we do not think that we would be experiencing some of the preventable fire outbreaks happening in the country.

WE also recommend that government will immediately set up a committee that will assess the properties destroyed and make recommendations to enable government provide the family of the former president with those facilities. We hope that this will not be a heavy burden on the shoulders of the government looking at what Mr Rawlings has done for mother Ghana, and the fact that he is an important asset to us.