Mary Ohenewaa Afful addressing the media
HUMAN RIGHTS LAWYER, Mary Ohenewaa Afful, has called on management of Goil and the government of Ghana to compensate victims of the June 3 flood/fire disaster at the Kwame Nkrumah Circle (Goil Filling Station) in 2015, claiming almost 300 lives and leaving scores of people seriously injured.
At a press conference on Friday at the site of the incident, the lawyer appealed to the management of Goil and the government to meet with the victims and agree on a reasonable amount as compensation.
“We are therefore appealing to the Directors of Goil Company Limited and the government of Ghana to meet with the victims and agree on a reasonable amount of compensation for each victim for both survivors and the family members of the deceased victims”, she said, adding “failure to arrange a meeting shall leave us with no option than to resort to the law courts to claim huge sums of damages or compensation”.
Ms Afful faulted the filling station for not finding a way to seal all leakages on their premises to clear the void of flammable substances that mixed up with the flood water resulting in fire.
She also indicated that the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Accra Metropolitan Assembly (AMA) both failed to carry out their state-mandated duties by failing to conduct regular checks and inspections to ensure that the place was fit for business activities.
Lawyer Afful indicated that victims had not received monies meant for them which were donated to the AMA to be given to them.
The lawyer disclosed that on August 7, 2018, victims of the disaster met at the office of the AMA and were shocked to learn that all monies were indeed received by the AMA office but there was no documentary evidence to prove the disbursement of the funds.
She revealed that on the same day, they also went to the office of the current NADMO director who showed them documents he inherited from his predecessors. The documents showed only monies received by family members of deceased victims but no document indicated payment of monies to any victim.
She stressed that persons found culpable to have siphoned any money meant for the victims should be dealt with in accordance with the law and the monies returned to the rightful victims.
BY: Nii Adjei Mensahfio