Communications Manager for Ghana Water Company Limited (GWCL) Stanley Martey said there has never existed any contract between his organization and National Fire Service to supply the latter with water.
Mr. Martey’s comments came after the Ghana National Fire Service (GNFS) blamed nonfunctioning of water hydrants around the Accra Central Business District, for its inability to douse the fire that razed down some shops at the Makola market on Monday, July 5, 2021.
The Public Relations Officer (PRO) of the Fire Service Ellis Robinson Oko, was reported to have said that actions and inactions of some state agencies such as the Ghana Water Company, Electricity Company of Ghana and the Accra Metropolitan Assembly make it difficult for the fire fight in the city.
But reacting to this on Tuesday July 6, 2021, Mr. Martey explained that GWCL has strategically situated fire hydrants at vantage locations to be used by the Fire Service when the need arises.
“GWCL doesn’t to tanker services to supply water to the fire service and we don’t have any contract with them either”
In its defense for the public backlash for not doing enough to save people’s investment on Monday, PRO of Ghana Fire Service said “We didn’t run out of water. The problem is all the fire hydrants didn’t have water in them so we had to rely on water from circle and Alajo. It’s the responsibility of the water company to manage the fire hydrants. We don’t manage fire hydrants”.
He added that “As at the time the fire happened, all the hydrants were not flowing. The water company didn’t tell us why they shut it yesterday. We couldn’t leave our duty to go ask Ghana Water Company why there was no water in our hydrants so we did what was required at the time and that’s what we did”.
But Mr. Stanley Martey insisted that GWCL have hydrants that are connected to its pipelines for the use of the Fire Service, adding that the PRO of the Fire Service cannot conclude that water is not flowing through “our pipes”
He also maintained that GWCL cannot be held responsible for Ghana Fire Service not having water in their engines to execute its mandate.
