Gov’t to Meet Over Gas Explosion

Government is expected to hold a crunch cabinet meeting over Saturday’s gas explosion that occurred at Atomic Junction in Accra.

Some seven people have so far lost their lives, with 132 others sustaining varied degrees of injury.

Speaking during his tour in the Northern Region on Sunday, Nana Akufo-Addo said one of the main agenda for the meeting is to decide on the way forward for the prevention of such explosions.

Cabinet will be meeting on Thursday, and I believe that out of that meeting, the country will know what our programme is – the comprehensive programme – that we intend to have to bring such incidents to a stop. The one that happened yesterday [Saturday], is one too many, we cannot afford more of that,” he said.

He also called on the businesses in the fuel sector, to cooperate with government as it seeks to find a way of preventing future fuel station explosions.

“I would like everybody involved in the industry to recognize that we all have to make adjustments to be able to guarantee the safety and the security of our people so that these things do not happen again. I need the support and cooperation of the people of Ghana to make the policies that we will be bringing up succeed so that such incidents become a thing of the past and not of the future,” Akufo-Addo added.

Gas explosions: We won’t tolerate resistance to reforms – Bawumia

Vice President Mahamudu Bawumia, who on Saturday joined President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo on a three-day official tour of the Northern Region, was compelled to leave for Accra when the news broke out.

Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, speaking at the scene of the Saturday night explosion at Atomic Junction in Accra, said a policy is in the offing to deal with the safety concerns once and for all.

He said the government will it put its foot down and turn a deaf ear to arguments against proposed reforms particularly in the sale of Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG).

He has so far visited the site of the explosion, and has visited the 37 Military Hospital to commiserate with the victims.

He has promised that Government will foot the bills of all the injured persons. He however assured the populace that this time round, government will be stricter on safety measures by introducing a new policy in the petroleum retail sector to prevent such disasters.

The explosion occurred at the MANSCO gas station at Atomic Junction near the University of Ghana.

Residents were thrown into a state of pandemonium following the piercing sound of the explosion as well as the giant scary fireball that was formed in the sky.

Source: Citifmonline