Fire Guts NDC Odododiodio Constituency Office.

Fire on Wednesday gutted the Odododiodio Constituency office of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) near Palladium in Accra. The fire which started around 4pm destroyed the one storey building and damaging properties worth thousands of Ghana Cedis.

When 'The Times got to the scene the police were there to ensure peace and order whiles personnel of the Ghana National Fire battling with the fire. There was also a huge crowd who wanted to catch a glimpse of the incident.

Christopher Tetteh, a victim lamented about the fire outbreak especially not being able to retrieve any of his belonging s and that of the family's. Eyewitness who spoke to Times indicated that nobody was at the office at the time of the outbreak as house occupants were all present at a funeral ceremony of the relative who resided in the house .

The Deputy Public Relations Officer, of the Ghana Fire Service, Prince Billy Anaglate indicated that his men found it difficult to access the place as it was filled with people and vehicles. “There were vehicles and people which made it difficult for us to access the place and interfered in the rapid deployment.

He attributed the difficulty they encounted controlling the fire to the presence of the plastic chairs in the house which he considered very inflammable especially when water is poured on it. When asked if they have enough water to fight the fire, “The number of tankers with two thousand and three thousand water capacities has really help in bringing the fire under control” he noted.

Commenting on the actual cause of the outbreak, he said the cause is not readily known but believes based on the preliminary information gathered indicated that there could be some electrical gadget(s) which was left plugged in the house when the occupants left for a funeral. He therefore assured that investigations would be conducted to unravel the actual cause of the fire outbreak. “There will be investigations which will be done by interviewing people who were before and after the scene and some victims.

Information obtained from these people can assist in arriving at the true cause of the problem” According to him, there were no injuries and casualties.

The Accra Central Divisional Police Commander, Oklu Gyamera cautioned the public to exercise restraint and behave appropriately when such events occur, this he said when not complied to makes their work as well as that of the Fire Service more difficult to handle.

The Member of Parliament (MP) for the Odododiodio Constituency, Nii Tackie Commey has described the incident as pathetic and rather unfortunate. He said the news of the fire outbreak came as a shock as he together with other constituency executives was sympathizing with the bereaved family of the house.

He noted that the family of the bereaved were dear to his heart and promised to support them in his capacity as MP. “I can’t leave them like that, after the fire service personnel completed their job, I will see what I can do with my widow’s might.” He said. When asked about the burnt constituency office, he said though the office was important, he wants to first concentrate on the victims of the fire outbreak first before tackling their office, he noted. However, the aspiring Member of Parliament for the constituency Nii Lantey Vanderpuye declined to comment on the issues when contacted. END