A trader at the New Kejetia Market who was arrested on Tuesday for cooking at the facility, which was recently ravaged by fire, has been granted bail.
Her arrest came after Vice President Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia disclosed that last week’s fire incident at the market was caused by a trader who was cooking.
According to the leadership of the traders, the trader known as Felicia Opoku was handed over to the police and was detained overnight, after which she was released on bail.
The President of the Federation of the Kumasi Traders, Nana Akwasi Prempeh told Citi News that: “Around 11 am, we had a call that a certain lady has set fire again and when we went there to check, she was heating okro soup, and so we arrested her and gave her to the police and detained her overnight and granted her bail this morning, but investigations are ongoing to find out who gave her the permission to come and sell in the market”.
“We are collaborating with the management of the market to ensure that we enforce the by-laws to ensure safety in the market. ”
Last week’s fire incident brought activities at the new Kejetia Market to a standstill. Items worth millions of Ghana cedis were destroyed.
Traders who have been badly affected are still counting their losses and are struggling to come to terms with what has happened.
Vice President, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia on Monday, March 20 disclosed that the briefing he received from the Ghana National Fire Service indicated that a fire from a trader cooking at the new Kejetia market caused the inferno at the facility last week.
Dr. Bawumia disclosed that the shop owner was cooking inside her shop when the gas cylinder she was using caught fire spreading to a nearby chemical shop, thus destroying 33 shops out of 8,000 shops at the market.
Another concern the traders at the market have raised over the years is the issue of one bulk meter serving all shops within the facility.
The traders have been reiterating the call for authorities to supply them with individual meters.
The traders have disclosed to Citi News that so far, two thousand out of the eight thousand meters they requested have been procured.
For now, normal activities have resumed at the Kejetia market.
The epicentre of the fire incident and some adjoining shops have been cordoned off.
Some traders whose shops were not directly affected by the fire are however worried that their shops have to be closed as authorities are citing security concerns.