No matter how you slice it, when a minister shouts and a PR man bites back, Ghana’s real fire isn’t at Adum market

The Ghana National Fire Service (GNFS) has never been a stranger to controversy, but the events of March 21-23, 2025, have lit a firestorm that’s less about flames and more about egos, politics, and the perennial mess of Ghana’s public service.

Let’s rewind to the spark: on March 21, at 6:00 AM, a blaze tore through Adum Market in Kumasi, reducing shops stuffed with mobile phones, jewellery, and second-hand clobber to ash. The GNFS scrambled six tenders, but narrow alleys, wooden structures, and no water from Ghana Water turned it into a Sisyphean slog. One firefighter was injured, another’s tender got snarled in the chaos, and the service’s woes were laid bare: no hydrants, no cranes, and tenders older than some of the traders’ kids.

Enter Dr. Frank Amoakohene, Ashanti Regional Minister and NDC bigwig, who rolled up like a man auditioning for a viral TikTok, as he always does.

In a video that’s since gone nuclear, he’s caught berating firefighters for “idling” with an empty tender, barking, “If there’s no water in the fire tender, move it away from here. What kind of behaviour is this?”. Never mind that GNFS protocol demands an empty tender stay put for refilling if water shows up, let the logistics be damned, this was optics hour for a younger-than-most Regional Minister who is loved on social media.

Amoakohene, who also doubles as head of the Regional Security Council, wasn’t there to solve the water shortage or cheer the lads risking their necks. No, he was there to continue the NDC’s new-found love for the performative, cameras rolling-backed actions.

Cue Alex King Nartey, GNFS PR flack and filmmaker with a mouth as bold as his title suggests. He’d had enough of the minister’s grandstanding and took to TV3 to let rip. “Shouting does not extinguish fires,” he snapped, accusing the Ashanti Regional Minister of staging a “spectacle” to look busy while “the actual men, who were putting their lives on the line, were being demoralised”.

Nartey didn’t stop there, he flagged the injured firefighter footing his own hospital bill, the 15-year tender drought, and government’s failure to deliver promised kit like earth-moving equipment until evening. It was a verbal Molotov cocktail, and the public lapped it up.

Amoakohene, stung, didn’t waste time. By March 23, he was on Facebook, slapping Nartey with the ultimate Ghanaian political insult: “Bro, you are a politician, not a service man” sharing a screenshot of old “anti-NDC” Facebook posts by the GNFS PR officer.

He paired it with a cryptic jab at the NDC’s rivals, the NPP, hinting Nartey’s outburst was partisan bile from an opposition plant. His aide piled on, demanding Interior Minister Mohammed Muntaka Mubarak sack Nartey pronto for “insubordination”. Social media also lit up with fury, many called Nartey a “silly entity” and his comments “useless,” while popular blogger, Sika Official cheered him for tackling the minister’s “uncalled-for” rant.

Nartey, sensing the heat, offered a half-apology for his tone but doubled down on the substance. Meanwhile, Ashanti Fire Commander ACFO II Peter Tetteh waded in, telling Asaase Radio the minister’s antics forced commanders to pep-talk their demoralised crew. Even President Mahama, on a tree-planting jaunt in Nkawie, detoured to Adum, praising the GNFS and sidestepping Amoakohene’s tantrum.

So here we are: a minister’s meltdown, a PR man’s rebellion, and a ruling party caught in the crosshairs. What’s next? The real question is what the NDC does now, that’s where the rubber meets the road.

A minister’s hissy fit and the ghost of NPP past

Dr. Amoakohene’s response to Alex King Nartey’s broadside was less a calculated counterpunch and more a toddler’s tantrum in a tailored suit. Caught on camera yelling at firefighters like a headmaster scolding truants, he doubled down when Nartey called him out.

Instead of owning the GNFS’s dire straits, no water, knackered tenders, a lone crane showing up hours late, he opted for a Facebook barb. It’s the kind of lazy smear that screams deflection, why tackle the issue when you can sling mud? His aide’s demand for Nartey’s head via Interior Minister Muntaka Mubarak only cemented the impression: this wasn’t about fixing anything; it was about saving face.

Let’s shred that reaction. Amoakohene’s a Regional Minister, not a reality TV contestant, yet he played to the gallery like a man desperate for likes. His “move the tender” rant ignored GNFS protocol and the fact he’d known about their logistical shambles as Security Council boss. Where was his outrage when tenders sat dry? Shouting mid-blaze wasn’t leadership; it was a cheap power trip. Then, branding Nartey a “politician” without evidence, beyond a hunch based on social media posts, was a coward’s dodge. If you’re going to accuse, bring receipts, not vibes.

Nartey himself is no saint, either. His “shouting doesn’t extinguish fires” zinger was gold, but going full blaze with the accusation that the regional was acting for the cameras was a gamble.

He’s PR, not a pundit, his job’s to spin, not spat. Yet three days into new Fire Service Chief Daniella Ntow Sarpong’s tenure, he’s picking fights, apparently to save face of his cherish Fire Service.

But there’s another twist: some whisper that Nartey’s venom stems from Amoakohene being younger, and that he would have gone guns blazing if the Ashanti Regional Minister was an older fellow.

In Ghana, where age demands deference, a junior minister barking at Nartey’s peers might’ve lit his fuse; less policy, more “who’s this boy to talk?”

That age angle’s juicy. Especially if Nartey’s been GNFS for years of grit and Amoakohene being a political appointee is seen as a Mahama loyalist fast-tracked to power. If Nartey’s old posts (think 2016 anti-NDC rants like “Mahama’s failed us”) show NPP leanings, this spat could be personal too, a veteran bristling at a younger upstart’s gall.

His TV tirade wasn’t just about tenders; it was a public “know your place” to a minister he might see as wet behind the ears. That half-apology he posted on March 22 hints he knows he overcooked it, but the “politician” tag sticks, part NPP ghost, part elder’s pride. Ghana’s politics doesn’t do nuance, criticise an NDC man, and you’re NPP by default.

What’s the deal with that NPP ghost? Rewind to 2016: Mahama’s NDC was flailing, dumsor blackouts, cash drying up, and NPP’s Akufo-Addo swept in. If Nartey was posting then, pro-NPP stuff like “Mahama’s failed us” or “Nana’s the fix” wouldn’t shock; Ghana’s keyboard warriors picked sides like it was a blood sport. Fast-forward to 2025: Mahama’s back, beating Bawumia in December 2024, and Nartey’s now a public servant under NDC rule. To be fair, his Adum outburst wasn’t explicitly partisan, he stuck to GNFS gripes, but slamming an NDC minister fits the opposition playbook, he’s either a loose cannon or a man with an axe to grind.

But here’s the rub for me: Amoakohene’s reaction to the reaction was a clown show, petulant, not principled, while Nartey’s either a hero for the rank-and-file, an NPP relic, or a greybeard scorned by youth. The NDC’s got a call to make, and it’s less about one loudmouth than what Mahama’s reign wants to signal. Sack him to ditch that “father for all” softness from 2012-2016, or keep him to flex a tolerance the NPP under Nana Addo never mustered? That’s the chess move coming next.

The NDC’s dilemma — sack the mouth or spare the mirror?

It’s March 23, 2025, and the Adum Market ashes are still smouldering, but the real heat’s on the NDC. Alex King Nartey has thrown a Molotov at Dr. Frank Amoakohene’s ego, and the ruling party faces a pivotal choice: axe him to flex some muscle or keep him to prove they’re not the NPP’s authoritarian cousins?

Now, the NDC’s move.

Option one: sack Nartey and signal Mahama’s ditched that “father for all” mush from his first stint. Back then, he was Mr. Nice Guy, too soft, critics said, letting dissent fester while dumsor dimmed his shine. Today’s NDC foot soldiers, flush from defeating Bawumia in December 2024, want red meat – party loyalists on social media demand “punishment ASAP” for Nartey’s “disrespect”. Firing him would appease the base, prove Mahama 2.0 has harder edges, and nod to Ghana’s age hierarchy: don’t sass the young lion in charge, no matter how thin his skin.

Option two: keep Nartey and show the NDC’s grown a thicker skin than Nana Addo’s lot ever managed. The NPP’s 2017-2024 reign was a masterclass in silencing critics, while Mahama’s first term took flak for excessive tolerance. Sparing Nartey flips that script: “We’re not petty tyrants, we are a listening government…blah, blah, blah” – while tacitly acknowledging his valid points about the GNFS’s appalling state.

New Chief Fire Officer Daniella Ntow Sarpong has barely unpacked her desk, vowing transparency and equipment upgrades. Keeping Nartey backs these long-overdue reforms and lets the NDC focus on fixing the service rather than settling scores. It also sidesteps the optics nightmare: sacking him for criticizing an NDC man reeks of partisan cronyism.

Here’s my verdict: keep him. Nartey’s a prat with a point – brash and likely riled by a younger minister’s condescension, but spot-on about the GNFS’s shambles. Amoakohene’s a prat without one – shouting won’t fill a hydrant, and his fragile ego’s the real liability.

Sacking Nartey placates party zealots while burying the real issue: Ghana’s fire service is in tatters. The NPP would’ve binned him by lunchtime; Mahama’s NDC should demonstrate it can absorb criticism without throwing wobblies. Governing isn’t a popularity contest – it’s about results, not retribution.

This saga’s a litmus test: Nartey’s the symptom, Amoakohene’s the sore, and the NDC’s the doctor. Choose the cure over the plaster. Anything less, and Mahama’s just Nana Addo in a greener kit.

The post No matter how you slice it, when a minister shouts and a PR man bites back, Ghana’s real fire isn’t at Adum market first appeared on 3News.

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