By Dorothy Frances Ward, GNA
Kumasi, March 02. GNA – The 83 fire service personnel at the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital (KATH) district fire station, who have been summarily transferred from the district, have called for a thorough investigation into the cause of the breakdown of the district’s fire tender.
The damage, and subsequent breakdown of the district fire tender, has been cited as the reason for the mass transfer of personnel from the district.
The transfer, according to a source among the personnel who would pleaded on anonymity, is being used as a punishment for their alleged misconduct and negligence, which had led to the breakdown of the fire tender.
According to the source, all the affected personnel have been accused of deliberately causing damage to the stations’ fire tender engine, which had been out of service for the past two years.
The transferred staff have threatened to fight the case to reverse the decision until the truth or otherwise was established to exonerate them
The source said the action was taken by the Ashanti Regional Command of the Ghana National Fire Service (GNFS), when the fire engine, which had been out of service for about two years, was sent to the Regional Mechanical workshop for servicing.
At the workshop, it was detected that there were some stones in the engine, which had led to the breakdown.
The mechanics, therefore, blamed the problem on the staff.
However, the staff are not taken kindly to this conclusion because they believed the cause of the damage could only be determined through comprehensive forensic investigations.
The Regional Directorate of the Service therefore decided to summarily transfer the staff to other stations within the region, as part of measures to instill discipline.
The source said all the affected staff have denied the allegations and claimed that it was only through forensic investigations that could establish the facts.
According to the staff, the Station had a 24-hour CCTV camera and believed any such crime could have been easily captured by the camera, and the offender exposed instead of victimizing the entire staff.
Meanwhile, a team from the national headquarters of GNFS has been dispatched to the region to investigate the case.
The staff, therefore, called for a stop to the transfers until the final outcome of the investigations.
GNA
Edited by Kwabia Owusu-Mensah/Linda Asante Agyei