Former President Akufo-Addo and wife Rebecca Akufo-Addo
Since the unfortunate helicopter crash that killed some of the nation’s best on August 6, 2025, I have been grieving in my corner away from the limelight and hullabaloo. My sadness is not for show or hypocritical pomp.
Truly, Murtala, Omane, Sarpong and the other gallant government officials and officers on board were fantastic persons by all standards based on testimonies from near and afar, hence my silence on the various conspiracy theories that have flooded social media authored by some of the worst unknowledgeable weasels across our political divide.
While I grieve, I am thankful to ALLAH for the lives of President John Mahama, Muntaka (ALLAH’s miracle man), and the others who were supposed to be on the doomed flight. It was, really, a very traumatic disaster.
However, it has gotten to the point where I have to make an input, albeit brief. A simple question to ask is why President Nana Akufo-Addo is being insulted and vilified in the most insane manner for something he had no hand in and was not clairvoyant enough to discern! This is such a terrible national calamity that has thrown almost everyone under the Ghanaian sun into a state of mourning; of course, also, on the international stage! So, where did the “akokra bɔne” and other vituperations come from? Most people are blaming Nana Akufo-Addo for various faults.
For example, I read messages on facebook and cringed at the folly of individuals who would otherwise not be labelled as such if they did a bit of research unless they just wanted to ejaculate their hatred for the former president to everyone’s disgust. The post indicated that of the four such helicopters purchased by President Mahama in 2015, only one was operational.
Well, what has that got to do with Nana Akufo-Addo? Did he instruct the military not to service them even though he was using them during his tenure for domestic transport where airfields were not available? How can anyone with the least sense think that way? Ah, well!
Checks on aircrafts are mandatory based on the number of hours flown. Everything is checked; from fuselage to engines to rotors to propellers to rivets to wheels to struts to instruments to the minutest detail. Nothing is left to chance otherwise they cannot be declared airworthy.
It is not like a rickety car that one would pay someone at DVLA some “nokofio” to give a roadworthiness certificate for, a canker that is killing more people on the streets than a civil war would. Air transport is the safest mode of travel by all means.
Ghana’s military is one the finest and most professional in Africa, so any accusation to suggest that it is incompetent is an insult. Ghana’s military pilots are some of the finest ever. I know what I am talking about. In 1993, I was on an orientation flight to Tamale on board Air Link’s F27. I saw the way Wing-Commander Naakobu and his first officer flew that bird.
Even though they could fly the airplane blindfolded, so to speak, they still followed the checklist and observed other rules to the letter with their cool, calm, and collected attitude in spite of the deteriorating weather. Of course, the pilots on the doomed helicopter were no different, so the idea that it was a pilot error is not something that I would consider.
Then, if you mentioned mechanical failure, it could be a plausible scenario except to say that the maintenance team in the military are also some of the finest at all. I had a military helicopter pilot friend at Burma Camp (forgot his name, shame on me) over thirty years ago (retired some 20 years ago), who gave me an insight on their maintenance standards.
Please, do not underrate our gallant military officers. Do not insult the intelligence of these brave soldiers that continue to defend us with their blood, and do not insult the faculty of Ghanaians. Talking ‘rubbish’ on this professional topic is like exposing your nakedness in a jungle for the baboons to laugh at. Besides, if some people think they can write any shameful post and get away with it, I can still tell them that airplanes are not like cars that can be parked on the roadside. Aircrafts of all sorts have inspections based on hours flown to avoid any mayday situation in flight, albeit one that cannot be completely ruled out.
One TK said that the helicopter could only fly VFR. That is outright rubbish. Whoever said that helicopter cannot be flown in IFR conditions? Of course they can. For the purpose of clarification, VFR means “Visual Flight Rules” and IFR means “Instrument Flight Rules”. The former is flight based on normal visibility operation, and the latter is low or zero visibility flight with 100% dependence on instruments. Someone also suggested that the pilot was disoriented, and another said that he had collapsed. If he did lose consciousness, his copilot was just as professional and could have landed safely.
Another person said that the helicopter was flying too low. In aviation, the rule is that the minimum altitude to operate an aircraft over civilian areas is 500’ (500 feet) and since the helicopter in discussion was a military vehicle, we can assume that they kept to this regulation until they approached for landing since no emergency was declared, although they have the right to under certain circumstances. There is no tree that is 500 feet tall, so the idea that the helicopter crashed into a tree is not tenable.
Besides, if an unfortunate passenger called his driver to instruct that his car be brought to Oforikrom and then to a different place did not mean that the pilot was finding an alternative field for emergency landing. If Oforikrom was considered, the pilot would not land there when the Kumasi airport was just next door! I suggest, from the little that I know as an aviator, that there must have been an explosion on board, as said by the “Deputy Majority Chief Whip”! May ALLAH continue to protect President John Dramani Mahama, and all the gallant folks manning this country.
May ALLAH continue to protect President Nana Akufo-Addo from the acerbic tongues that cannot make a sensible statement without vomiting their disgust in public.
By Fadi Dabbousi