The Inquirer (Monrovia)
29 December 2008
The residence of Information Minister Lawrence Bropleh in Sinkor, Oldroad was last Friday evening gutted by fire, destroying all properties in the house including important documents.
Although the exact cause of the fire is still unclear but some of those around the vicinity of the house, said they heard heavy explosion before the house got ablaze.
Others who were around the vicinity blamed the situation on an electrical shock, which they said must have started from the main electrical power source of the house. Fortunately, no occupant of the house was hurt or wounded during the fire hazard.
Speaking to the press about the enigmatic situation, Minister Bropleh thanked the Almighty God that none of his relatives or the occupants of the house got hurt or killed during the tragic incident.
He said the destroyed properties are all material things that can still be possessed, stressing that life has to perpetuate despite the tragedy.
While the Minister's house was ablaze, several friends and government officials rushed to the scene to console him. Among them was National Investment Commission Chairman Richard Tolbert, who later drove away with the Minister.
Meanwhile, over the weekend, President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf visited the debris of the site of the minister's residence to assess the level of damage done. During her visit, the President met with the Minister and expressed sympathy for the loss he has sustained.
Minister Bropleh later briefed the President on the development and what information he has about what started the fire.
Later, when she spoke to Executive Reporters on the incident, President Sirleaf expressed sympathy to the minister over the incident.
She said the government does not have the capacity to actually determine what might have caused the fire because the nation lacks the experts to determine such. She recalled that when similar fire incident occurred in the case of the Executive Mansion the government had to send for experts from South Africa to determine the cause of the fire.
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I am happy that there were no human loss, thank God. However, I am perplex if I have any sympathy at all for the property loss. Minister Bropleh’s house was furnished to the teeth with some of the most expensive furniture. I don’t believe his annual salary as a minister of Information could have purchased all of those nice things that were gutted by fire. So, it all boils down to the same old story CURRUPTION.
Another one bits the dust, and more to follow.
unto you wisdom as king solomon my bro.if the money is not useing the right way, i think there should be panity. thanks God that no one die in his house accept the stolen money materals.
I greatly sympathize with the Minister for the loss sustained from the fire disaster. As a licensed insurance expert, an accountant and a student of psychology, it appears we have a lot lessons to learn from the fire episode. First I wonder whether the Minister and many other Liberians have insurance on their valued and hard earned properties. The purpose of insurance is to transfer the risk of loss to insurer so that you can have peace of mind in term of loss. If there was no insurance on the property that got burnt down, the Minister will have to start life all over-which is the worst of all the tragedies. The next lesson to learn relates to the manner in houses is built in Liberia which does not reflect the city zonal codes and public works building standards. For fear of armed robbery, many Liberians are fencing their properties to the roof of the house. At the same time, the windows and doors are built manned with heavy metals. Consider a fire disaster breaking up in the middle of night. The consequence will be beyond imagination because eventually all occupants in such building might perish in the fire. More deplorable for this situation is that there is no or adequate fire truck or fire fighting equipments and resources to combat fire outbreak when it occurs. So while our people are protecting themselves against armed robbery, they are unconsciously constructing another ferocious peril around their lives. Only God will able to save life in this kind of more-than-rebel war catastrophe. Finally and most importantly, there is an overwhelming need to educate people about the importance of installing fire alarm and smoke detectors in all residential, commercial and public properties. Arguably, someone will contend that the Liberian people cannot afford these life-saving security measures. That is not true in that our problem lies in our decision of what constitutes priority. We put things like indirect benefits to our lives to the bottom of the list just as standard and insurance and banking are not of priority to many in our country. I hope we will start to think about personal security for the future very seriously far ahead of disaster. Typically, If you are riding in a taxi around Monrovia, you might want to consider whether your life is secure in the taxi in which you are riding, that the driver has first of all driver's license and second of all if insurance for third party casualty is being carried on the vehicle. Consider also if your house was burnt down today, are you sure to get a shelter within next the ninety days. These are very important life threatening issue even more than war. So nationally, we need to learn a lesson from the Minister's loss. However, I greatly share the pain, distress and trauma that the Minister may be going through and hope all Liberians wherever you are, will begin to ponder on this food-for-thought issue. I am very sorry for the tragic loss of the Minister. My comments do not in any way attempt to inject self-blame on the Minister because it is likely or commonplace for survivor or victim to engage in self-blame or question God or think that one is curse when disaster or crisis or trauma of such magnitude occurs. Thinking of such is a symptom or by-product of transcrisis or post-traumatic stress.