Blay Nyameke Armah, Joseph Nelson
Drama unfolded at the densely-populated slum at European Town in Sekondi which was gutted by fire on Tuesday morning.
This was when the Member of Parliament (MP) for the area, Blay Nyameke Armah, allegedly resisted efforts to demolish other wooden structures and clear the debris.
It would be recalled that a fierce fire gutted parts of the densely-populated slum on Tuesday morning and destroyed properties worth thousands of Ghana Cedis.
According to sources, after the fire outbreak, the Western Regional Minister, Joseph Nelson, instructed the Sekondi-Takoradi Metropolitan Assembly (STMA) to demolish all wooden structures left and help to clear the debris.
“So the assembly had a brief meeting on the issue and later organised a bulldozer, a pay loader and a tipper truck to carry out the Regional Minister’s directive,” the source told DAILY GUIDE.
The purported drama started when the MP for Sekondi rushed to the slum area and allegedly resisted the STMA officials from carrying out the order.
“The moment our machines got to the area at about 2am, the MP came around and used his vehicle to block the way and insisted that he would not allow the bulldozer to demolish the rest of the structures at the slum,” the source noted.
The source revealed that the Ghana Railway Company has even made incessant complaints about the adverse effect the activities of the slum dwellers were having on its Sekondi station near the slum.
The source continued, “Later, some ‘macho’ men also came around and instructed those operating the machines to move them away else they would dismantle them. So we moved them back.”
MP Reacts
Reacting to the issue in a WhatsApp post, the MP stated that he was not happy that decisions were made without his input.
“This is a decision that is going to affect my constituency and political career. Why slums in New Takoradi and Agona Nkwanta won’t be demolished first?”
“What do you people take me for? How much of your personal monies have you people invested in Sekondi that you will make political decisions without the knowledge and concern of those that have poured billions in Sekondi,” he indicated.
Fire Outbreak
Although the cause of the fire was not immediately known, DAILY GUIDE learnt that it could have been caused by the usage of gas stove, which was unattended to or unattended cooking.
It took a combined team of firefighters from Sekondi Sub-Metro, Ghana Ports and Harbours Authority (GHAPOHA) and the Ghana Navy to completely douse the ferocious fire.
Some eyewitnesses reported that the fire started at about 5 a.m. on Tuesday after a woman used a gas cylinder to cook the previous night and forgot to put it off.
Properties lost during the inferno included electrical gadgets and home appliances, among others. But there were no fatalities.
According to information gathered, the firemen had a tough time quenching the fire because of the many scattered structures at the slum.
From Emmanuel Opoku, Takoradi