From Business to Ashes: 3,000 Odawna Market Shops Destroyed in Devastating Fire
Thousands of traders at the Odawna Market have been left devastated after a massive fire swept through the busy trading hub on Monday, June 29, 2026, destroying an estimated 3,000 shops and reducing years of hard work to ashes.
The inferno tore through a significant portion of the market at Circle in the Greater Accra Region, leaving countless traders with nothing to salvage as goods worth millions of cedis were consumed by the flames.
Speaking to Maurice Otoo of Kessben Digital, the leader of the Plastic Traders Association, George Ohene Agyei, disclosed that the market has about 4,250 shops, with nearly 3,000 of them destroyed by the blaze.
He commended President John Dramani Mahama for his swift response and assurance to reconstruct the market, describing the intervention as a source of hope for the thousands of affected traders seeking to rebuild their livelihoods.
He also appealed to civil society organisations, corporate institutions, philanthropists, and the general public to support victims of the disaster.
According to him, many of the traders depend on loans to finance their businesses and have now lost their only source of income.
As authorities continue to assess the extent of the destruction and investigate the cause of the fire, affected traders are calling for urgent assistance to help them recover from one of the worst market fires to hit the capital in recent years.
Story , Maurice Otoo
