In the wake of the gas explosion at the Atomic Junction near Madina Accra, that left seven people dead and nearly 40 seriously injured, it has emerged that the exiting Fire Service Chief, Albert Brown Gaisie, left only one page of handing over notes to his successor, Edwin Blankson.
The revelation was made by the current Fire Service Chief, Edwin Blankson, who is waiting for the Minister of Interior to instruct Brown Gaisie to come down and properly hand over to him in terms of personnel strength, vision, strategy, logistics and equipment as well as training progarmmes in the light of the embarrassing incidences of fire outbreaks in the country..
Gaisie, we are reliably informed, has been assigned to National Security and would not be back, according to authoritative sources.
The funny side of this story is that since the appointment of the last Fire Service Chief, the nation has seen a myriad of fire incidents with tragic consequences unlike any in the country under any Fire Service Chief.
Apart from the current Atomic Junction tragic incident, his regime witnessed the June 3, Central Medical Stores, Coconut Groove Hotel, GBC, Makola and Agbogbloshie Markets etc
As a result, DAYBREAK learnt, the new Fire Service Chief is pussy-footed, attempting radical interventions and initiatives as required by commonsense administrative logic.
He is virtually not in charge because he can hardly effect changes in style of governance or shuffling of human resource and recruitment.
Exiting Gaisie had been around as Chief since 2014, working with a Fire Service Council which he could jell with and even influencing new appointees into the current Council, Ministry of Interior sources told DAYBREAK. The interesting thing is that whilst under Ministry of Interior conventions Director of Operations act as second-in-command, under Fire Service now in operation, the second-in-command is Finance and Administration rather than the Director of Operations.
The Fire Service Chief now has his hands tied behind his back unable to influence anything – at least not within the next six months – a decision forced on him by the Council, DAYBREAK was told by insiders.
Recently, at a graduation ceremony for Fire Service fresh in-takes, Edwin Blankson was even introduced as Deputy Chief Fire Officer against the background of shadows of Gaisie hanging over him still as the exited but still kicking Chief Fire Officer.
