Accra, Jan. 23, GNA - Some parts of the Offices of the National Media Commission (NMC) was gutted by fire over the weekend, Mr George Sarpong, Executive Secretary of NMC, said in Accra on Monday.

He attribute the cause of the fire to power outages experienced during the weekend and said the fire affected ceilings on the corridor of the building and spread to the roof of an office but did not affect any equipment. When Ghana News Agency visited the NMC offices, they had no power and debris from the ceiling were being collected.

Mr Sarpong said it was not the first time that the NMC had experienced such fire outbreaks however, this was a major one which required the attention of the Ghana National Fire Service (GNFS).

He attributed the situation to the old dilapidated building, saying, “The building is too old and weak, there are too many rodents in the building that chew the electrical wires and insulators”.

Mr Sarpong said some fire service experts had suggested the pulling down of the structure to construct a new one but the NMC did not have substantial budgetary support to undertake such a project. “In the past we managed to undertake some re-wiring of the building and some renovations but the building is too old and such renovations did not improve the situation,” Mr Sarpong said.

He said most of the offices leaked badly when it rained and did not auger well for good working environment. Mr Sarpong said "With Election 2012 drawing near, there is the need for these concerns to be addressed to enable the Commission work efficiently especially in media monitoring".

“In an era where there are concerns for professionalism in the media, the NMC need the tools and the right atmosphere to be able to effectively monitor the media especially during this period,” he added.