Today, Tuesday, March 21, the Kejetia Market has opened for business as announced by Vice President Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia.
The facility’s gate opened around 5:45 AM, according to Ibrahim Abubakar of TV3.
READ ALSO: Bawumia Reveals The Cause Of Kejetia Market Fire
Ibrahim added that the traders who were determined to defy the management and board’s directive to further shut down the facility for one more week have expressed relief at the market’s resumption of activities.
The facility’s management decided to close it down as a result of the fire that broke out there.
The building was partially destroyed by fir last week.
A second decision was made to close the unaffected areas for a week and the affected area permanently after an initial three-day closure.
Vice President Bawumia, however, stated that the traders can reoccupy their stalls starting on Tuesday in accordance with agreements made with facility management and experts, particularly the Ghana National Fire Service (GNFS) and the National Disaster Management Organization (NADMO), when he visited the facility on Monday, March 20.
“If anything affects you, it affects me and everyone,” he sympathised with the teeming traders, who had resisted the decision by the authorities to shut down the facility by one more week.
“I was taken round, especially where the incident happened. The shops were 33 out of 8,000. I asked the Fire Service and NADMO officials as regards the cause,” the Vice President said in Twi.
The market will be open starting on Tuesday to protect the livelihood of the agitated traders, he claimed, adding that the cause of the fire has been found and assurances have been given that it is not an electrical fault.
According to Dr. Bawumia, President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has also promised to assist all of the traders who were impacted by the fire.
READ ALSO: Fire Destroys New Kejetia Market
Dr. Bawumia revealed on Monday that the explosion of an unattended cooking gas cylinder was what started the Market fire.
“I asked the Ghana National Fire Service and and NADMO what caused the fire and they told me that their investigations revealed that someone, a trader who was cooking in her shop using a gas stove and that was the fire started, close to a nearby chemical shop, where they sell gunpowder, carbide, turpentine that resulted in the explosion, he said after he visited the facility to inspect the extent of damage caused by last Wednesday’s fire.
