The Ghana Armed Forces has dismissed calls from residents in Tema to relocate the military base armoury at Michel Camp following a fire outbreak in the early hours of Wednesday.

Fire caught the armoury and in the aftermath sent explosions of dangerous ammunition into homes nearby.

The weapons struck homes nearby

Witnesses say they heard loud noises shortly after huge flames engulfed the armoury at the military base in Tema, in the Greater Accra Region.

The residents have demanded the relocation of the ammunition depot, saying that the military facility is a hazard to their habitat.

“…this has affirmed our call for all these years that government needs to do something about this armoury…and hear the cry of the people who have settled here,” Assemblyman for the area, Anthony Nukpenu said.    

However, speaking to Joy FM, Director of Public Affairs at the Ghana Armed Forces Colonel Eric Aggrey Quarshie rebutted the claims of the residents.

He explained that the military facility was put up in the 1960s and by then, “the whole area was complete bush. Anybody there came to meet the depot,” he added.

Asked whether the military is considering the suggestion to move, Aggrey Quarshie said that was not the solution.

“It doesn’t matter where you relocate to, people will move to the place,” he said.

He said what was paramount was to ensure that “the safety measures there are up to scratch.”

He added that minus the good safety practices that were installed at the depot, “the situation would have been different.”

The Colonel also dismissed suggestions of the military evicting residents in the area, saying that was not the mandate of the military.

He, however, raised concerns that most of the residents there are encroachers.

Listen to him speak to the Midday news on Joy FM