Muntaka Charges Fire Officers to Support AFCAS to Transform Ghana’s Fire Safety Regime
The Minister for the Interior, Hon. Muntaka Mohammed-Mubarak, has charged officers of the Ghana National Fire Service to fully embrace and support the Automated Fire Safety Compliance System (AFCAS), describing digitalization as the only path to a modern, efficient and accountable fire service.
AFCAS, launched in February, replaces manual, fragmented fire safety processes with a digital platform for real-time compliance tracking, inspection coordination, and certification. The system enables the GNFS to identify high-risk facilities early, reduce turnaround times, and introduce full digital traceability to inspections and approvals.
Addressing Strategic Management Committee members, Regional Fire Commanders and personnel drawn from across the country at a workshop held at the Fire Academy in Accra, the Minister said every new system comes with challenges, but “continuous shaping will shape the system.”
“With your support and commitment, AFCAS will work as expected to improve the work of the Service and that will also benefit you, the officers,” Hon. Muntaka told the gathering.
According to him, digitalization is the way forward if the Service wants to improve, because it will help address challenges faster than the usual manual way of doing things. You cannot achieve different results if the status quo remains the same.
Touching on welfare, Hon. Muntaka stated that the well-being of officers remains very key and directly tied to AFCAS success. “When you support AFCAS and it succeeds, it will improve your work and welfare,” he said.
Given government budget constraints, he urged officers to “think outside the box for generation of funds to support the Service,” noting that AFCAS will introduce a reliable revenue stream to reduce over-reliance on government subventions.
In her remarks, Chief Fire Officer Madam Daniella Mawusi Ntow Sarpong acknowledged that AFCAS cannot function effectively without the support of the officers and urged personnel to ensure its effective operationalisation across the country.
She said the system’s nationwide rollout will go a long way to improve the Service, benefit the good people of Ghana and the officers as well.
Madam Ntow Sarpong noted that the manual system had its own challenges, and AFCAS will simplify public interactions, improve inspection coordination, and track compliance in real time.
The workshop forms part of ongoing engagements with commanders and frontline officers as the GNFS transitions to a technology-driven fire safety compliance regime.
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