Recurring Market Fires: Assemblies must lead market reconstruction not traders – Dr. Kingsley Agyemang
Dr. Kingsley Agyemang, MP for Abuakwa South Constituency
The MP for Abuakwa South Constituency, Dr. Kingsley Agyemang has reiterated the urgent need for metropolitan, municipal, and district assemblies (MMDAs) to take charge of market redevelopment in Ghana, to curb the persistent outbreaks of devastating fires.
According to Dr. Agyemang, the longstanding practice of allowing traders to rebuild markets on their own after fire disasters is a fundamental flaw that has only deepened the cycle of destruction and loss. He argued that traders, without engineering or structural planning knowledge, are ill-equipped to construct safe, durable market infrastructure.
“Traders must not be allowed to reconstruct markets; Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies must take the lead in market redevelopment to address the persistent fire outbreaks,”
The call comes in the wake of yet another massive fire that ripped through the Kasoa New Market on Sunday afternoon, sweeping through the commercial hub around 4:00 p.m., destroying more than 360 stalls and wiping out goods worth thousands of cedis.
The Ghana National Fire Service (GNFS) has attributed the latest blaze to an electrical fault, with preliminary investigations suggesting that faulty wiring could have sparked the inferno, the second major fire to hit the same section of the market within a year, raising fresh anxiety among traders and residents alike.
Traders have accused the Fire Service of delayed response, citing a late alert to emergency services which they say worsened the scale of the damage. The Service, however, insists that its personnel faced logistical challenges on arrival, complicating their firefighting efforts.
Kasoa’s recent blaze is not an isolated case. Ghana has suffered a troubling trend of market fires in recent years, from the devastating inferno at Accra’s Kantamanto Market in January 2025, which destroyed thousands of stalls and affected tens of thousands of livelihoods, to fire outbreaks in other major commercial hubs like Kumasi’s Adum and Techiman markets.
In many of these instances, investigations have pointed to poorly structured stalls, unauthorized electrical connections, blocked access routes that hinder firefighting, and inadequate fire safety infrastructure as key contributors to the scale of destruction.
Insurance and Accountability
Dr. Agyemang also took aim at the government’s apparent lack of urgency in implementing comprehensive insurance for markets and other public spaces across the country. He lamented that despite raising the issue repeatedly in Parliament, there has been little policy movement on insurance coverage to cushion traders against such catastrophes.
“It is long overdue for the government to prioritise insurance for all markets and public spaces in the country,” he said, accusing authorities of failing to provide concrete answers during legislative scrutiny.
For Dr. Agyemang, the recurring nature of market fires is more than just a series of unfortunate incidents, it reflects systemic neglect in urban planning, market infrastructure development, and disaster preparedness. He believes that a government-led reconstruction strategy, anchored by MMDAs with technical oversight and compliance to safety standards, will reduce the likelihood of future infernos and protect traders’ livelihoods.
While traders await relief and formal support following the latest Kasoa market fire, stakeholders say it is clear that moving forward, ad hoc rebuilding by traders themselves is not a sustainable or safe approach.
Source: Ghana/otecfmghana.com
