The Ghana National Fire Service (GNFS) has expressed concerns over the increasing number of prank calls made to its emergency lines.
Between December 2018 and January 2019, the Service recorded over 297,000 prank calls, a figure that has more than doubled in the year 2023.
Alex King Nartey, Assistant Divisional Officer at the Public Relations Department of the Service, expressed deep worry about this trend.
“This year, we have received more than 600,000 prank calls,” he confirmed during an interview with JoyNews.
Mr. Nartey also shared some of the statements made by these prank callers.
“If I tell you some of the silly things, they say you would be surprised. People call and as excuse to say, some people even masturbate on our call lines. That’s the truth. People call and when they hear the voice of female reps then you hear them jerking off. Those are preposterous things,” he revealed.
He added that, some callers go as far as singing on the line while others call to complain about the genitals of their partners being on fire and needing to be quenched.
Mr. Nartey revealed that, there are times when children left with phones without supervision also call the centre and heap insults on the representatives.
“You see when you do that, you are on the line and you are holding the line, it is just like your mobile phone, it’s like someone is holding the line. You can’t pick another call. So when there is someone there or playing pranks with us, then there is the possibility of denying another person,” he stated some of the implications such calls have on the discharge effective fire fighting duties by the service.
He cautioned callers to refrain from such behavior as it leads to delays in responding to genuine distress calls.
Some people call and masturbate on our call lines – Ghana National Fire Service. #JoyNews pic.twitter.com/0dwmtA0P8C
— JoyNews (@JoyNewsOnTV) December 25, 2023
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