A GNA Feature by Bertha Badu-Agyei
Accra, July 6, GNA – Market fires in Ghana have had devastating impact on women who operates small and medium enterprises usually trading in the markets.
Many lose their livelihoods and incomes running into millions of cedis, and data from the Ghana National Fire service, put losses due to fire at more than 64 million cedis in about 967 fire outbreaks alone.
This affected more than 2,000 traders in 2022 comprising largely of market fires, and notable to mention are the Kejetia market in Kumasi, Ashanti Region, Kantamanto, Odawna, Madina markets also in the Greater Accra region and Juaben Serwa market in Koforidua of the Eastern Region over the years.
Meanwhile, most of these women in the informal sector rely on loans from financial institutions, families, and friends. Unfortunately, with no form of insurance they are left vulnerable to fire outbreaks and any other disasters.
In July 2019, Ama Grace (not real name) a 38-year-old trader invested Ghc50,000 into her trading business in anticipation of Christmas sales and was looking forward to reaping the returns and pay back the loan facility of Ghc40,000 she took from a finance company.
The investments included infrastructure where she moved from a metal container to a rented shop nearby, did some interior upgrade such as painting and tiling among others, she also restocked and added on other items just to attract a lot of clients.
Each month, she was expected to pay an amount of Ghc1,500 for the three years to defray the bank loan, just like every business person, Ama hoped to expand and upgrade her business with these interventions and breakthrough, but that was not her reality.
In October same year, tragedy struck, the Koforidua central market where Ama’s new shop was located was hit by a fire outbreak, and her shop was among the over 60 shops gutted by the fire, which burnt their items beyond recognition, the only items she could salvage were the metal beams supporting the frontage of the shop and the broken tiles, all her investments gone down the drain.
Unfortunately, Ama has no insurance package to restore her business back, just like the over 200 affected traders mostly women. The benevolence of government, philanthropists, family, and friends now becomes the only source of hope for sustenance.
Ama is shattered, all her dreams have come to naught, how to pay back the loan, get a source of livelihood are pains she has to bear with, until such time that luck comes back her way, the reality of insuring her shop, which she ignored and thought was too expensive has dawned on her.
“I remember when I moved into my new shop, some insurance agents came to me to sensitise me on the need to have an insurance policy to cover my investments in the event of any disaster, but I was not interested because thought it was too expensive and not necessary,” she sadly noted.
Ama Grace is not alone here, there are hundreds of traders who have lost their livelihoods due to market fires and the fact that they had nothing to fall on after the disaster had rendered them in a state of poverty and despair only clinging on the hope of “Nyame bekyere” to wit, “God will provide”, the typical mentality of the Ghanaian.
“I lost my shop containing wares worth more than Ghc20,000 in the Odawna market fire and since then, I have not been able to recover, paying debts and finding another place has not been easy for me” Aunty Ama, a victim of the Odawna fire outbreak last year who recounted her ordeal to the GNA said she thought insurance was for the rich and big companies.
The notion has always been that insurance policies are for the affluent, rich, and big businesses who have huge infrastructure and not for small traders in containers or stalls at congested markets and therefore it’s difficult to find any trader insuring his or her wares at Makola, Odawna, Madina or any wayside markets.
Meanwhile, GNA checks at the National Insurance Commission (NIC) showed that there were several insurance packages specifically designed to meet the demands and pockets of traders in the markets to mitigate impact of market fires on women, providing the financial protection against losses as well as help to recover from such disasters and rebuild their businesses.
They include the Ghana Re Insurance Company’s “Market Fire Insurance Policy” the SIC “Traders Insurance Policy and Star Assurance Company’s “Small Business Insurance Policy, these policies typically cover losses due to fire, burglary, and other risks, it also provides additional benefits such as business interruption coverage and liability insurance.
The reality is that many women in Ghana’s informal sector may not have access to these insurance policies due to obvious reasons, lack of awareness, high premiums and limited financial resources and the general mentality that insurance policies were for big businesses.
Mr Mawuli Zogbenu, Head of Public Relations Unit of NIC in an interview, said his outfit and the Ghana National Fire Service had embarked on a nationwide sensitisation drive on the importance of insurance policies and the benefits in the event of any disaster or crisis to cushion victims.
However, he agreed that there was the need for intensive and consistent sensitization of market women and small businesses including dressmaking shops, hair salons and other business establishments to understand the importance of insurance policies as an investment to be recouped in times of disasters.
In as much as the sensitization drive is good move, the need for the NIC, the Ghana National Fire Service and the respective local assemblies to have a concerted and coordinated efforts to ensure that traders and small businesses obtained an insurance policy as pre-requisite to granting of the business operating certificates or permits was imperative.
GNA