Dr. Hafiz Bin Salih, the Upper West Regional Minister, has raised concerns about the quality of work done by building contractors and said he has taken that very seriously as such projects do stand the test of time.
“I have never blamed any contractor for doing shoddy work because they go into that to make a profit, it is the consultants who are to supervise the work that they are doing”, he indicated.
Dr. Salih raised the concern at Eremon in the Lawra Municipality when he visited the school to commiserate with victims of the fire disaster that ravaged the girls’ dormitory of the Eremon Senior High Technical School (SHTS) on Monday night, February 6, 2023.
The inferno completely raised down the whole block rendering several students stranded and all their belongings destroyed.
No casualty was recorded but that one student was rushed to the hospital but had since been discharged.
The fire incident at the Eremon SHTS occurred just after similar incidents were recorded at the Wa SHTS on Sunday, January 22, 2023, Monday, January 23, 2023, and on Thursday, January 26, 2023, when two dormitory blocks of the female students got burnt, rendering 114 students stranded and their properties destroyed.
The visit of the minister to the school was also to assess the level of destruction as well as to encourage the students not to let the disaster discourage and distract them from studying.
“It is with a heavy heart that I join you this afternoon to commiserate with you. The incident that happened was unfortunate and the consequences are dire for all of us”, Dr. Salih lamented.
He acknowledged the grave ordeal the students were going through but assured the students and management of the school that the school would not be closed down because of the disaster.
He said the Regional Coordinating Council (RCC) would meet with the stakeholders to find ways of mitigating their suffering to enable them to stay and learn.
“Whatever we can marshal to come back and support you, be rest assured that the RCC together with NADMO will come back with the support”, he said.
The Minister indicated that he had also directed to Lawra Municipal Assembly to put in measures to provide immediate support to the students while steps were taken to fix the mess caused.
Mr Razack Abdul Korah, the Upper West Regional Director of Education, urged the students to see it as an event that will come to pass, quickly recover from the shocks, get organised, and move on with their studies.
He commended the management of the school for putting in measures to ensure academic work was not truncated.
The cause of the fire was yet to be established by the Ghana National Fire Service (GNFS).
The regional minister was accompanied by some Heads of Departments and security agencies including the National Disaster Management Organisation (NADMO) and the GNFS.