Prank calls to the two main call centres of the Ghana National Fire Service (GNFS) go up when students are on vacations, The Ghana National Fire Service (GNFS) has said.
The rate drop when school reopen, the GNFS added.
The Director of Public Affairs at the GNFS, Timothy Osafo-Affum, who made these revelations in an interview with 3FM’s Sunrise hosted by Alfred Ocansey on Thursday, explained that “pranks calls are seasonal”.
He said on average, the two centres receive 22,000 to 24,000 prank calls a daily basis in Accra and Kumasi.
“Prank calls to our centres are seasonal. It rises when students are on holiday but it subside when they are in school”.
ACFO I Osafo-Affum blamed parents over these rampant prank calls which he believes is impeding the work of the services.
“Because we the parents are teaching them [students and pupils]. They are also learning what we do”.
ACFO I Osafo-Affum explained that “they are wasting resources”.
“They are preventing those who need the services”.
Call centres
The Public Affairs Director noted that the entire GNFS has just two call centres in Accra and Kumasi with limited consoles to pick calls.
“We have five consoles which can pick five calls at a time. We have three in Accra and two in Kumasi. National security installed these consoles for us which is not adequate”.
Asked on why they should not install more consoles to be able to pick more calls at a time, ACFO I Osafo-Affum explained that “they wanted to give us 15 consoles but due to lack of space, we could not take them”.
“So we are able to accommodate only three in Accra but nationwide, we have a total of five because of availability of space. If we have space, the National Security will add more”.
Source: 3news.com|Ghana