The Post-mortem Of The Helicopter Crash
The helicopter crash which took place about three weeks ago was an accident in recent memory which saw Ghanaians of all walks of life sharing grief for the departed souls without the usual show of political divide that has characterised major events in the country.
Except for the three service personnel, the rest were from the National Democratic Congress (NDC) and the New Patriotic Party (NPP) behaved maturely and mourned with the NDC and had to resist the temptation of responding to the usual provocative propaganda that sought to put the blame of the crash on the NPP and former president Nana Addo. It is incredibly a sad situation in our country that every issue is viewed with the political lens of the NPP or the NDC and the spins that the NDC propaganda puts on stories makes you wonder whether they are from a different planet.
As I wrote in my last article on the crash, a helicopter is an undisputable versatile equipment which mankind cannot do without. Like any other useful equipment, breakdowns and accidents must be accepted as part of the problems associated with its usage. We must therefore endure the pain, avoid emotions when such incidents occur, and resist passing the buck and do the needful and move on.
A post-mortem will be done to establish the cause of the crash by international experts and the early recovery of the black box which contains the flight data analysis will help speed up the process. It will take some time to complete because of the multi-agency nature of the investigations but the cause of the accident would be established. This investigation will cover on-site investigations, flight data analysis, pilot and crew, environmental conditions, witness and interviews, structural and mechanical evaluation and many more. Meanwhile, we must live with the ‘rubbish’ that is being thrown at us by the uninformed ‘experts’ who are on their story telling spree. After the investigations, the Ghana Airforce will handle the technical aspect of the recommendations and these may not be revealed to the public.
Leaving the technical issues aside, the human failings will also be investigated by the team of international investigators, but the Airforce may conduct its own investigations. Issues affecting the crew, more specifically the mood and condition of the Pilots will be revisited.
The news circulating suggests that the pilot, Wing Commander Peter Baafemi Anala lost three siblings in five months and this news has been checked and confirmed to be true. People are therefore of the opinion that he was psychologically unstable and should not have been tasked to convey the dignitaries to Obuasi.
The observation is very fair but also to be fair to the Airforce, they know the men they work with and their mental capacity to undertake various tasks assigned to them. This is an unfortunate incident which must not be subjected to public scrutiny with the intent to undermine the credibility of command responsibility of the Airforce. Accidents are a phenomenon which humans handle daily in their various occupations, and therefore emotions after incidents must be controlled to prevent the damage to the psyche of the people affected.
My concern is what needs to be done to honour the dead so that the lives lost, may not be in vain. If all the noise Ghanaians have made over the death of the eight is anything to go by, then galamsey must be eliminated at all cost with drastic measures. This accident seems to be a divine stirring up which has drawn the attention of Ghanaians and many people around the world and we must seize the opportunity to act decisively. Heavy punishments such as a death sentence must be considered for people found guilty of indulging in galamsey to show the seriousness of government’s determination to stamp out galamsey.
The establishment of Goldbod seems to hype the economic benefits of galamsey more than the damage being caused to our water bodies and farmlands. No amount of gold will exceed the value of our land and water bodies. We are aware that galamsey is destroying our water bodies and lands and that means, literally food and water are being destroyed. Destroying food and water means killing the people and their livelihood and we must not allow this to happen. As a nation we must stop playing politics with galamsey.
To my mind, nothing will be more befitting to honour the memory of the deceased than the total eradication of galamsey. The President has announced the establishment of a Fund to support the crash victims, the children and dependants. But this is short of the honour I am referring to. What the President talked about is the normal appeasement bestowed on citizens who lose their lives in the course of national duties. It is always done during the early days of bereavement to show the government’s sympathy.
My younger brother died in the Accra Sports Stadium disaster on 9th May 2001 and I do not want to recount the bitter stories about the efforts the next of kin of the deceased had to go through to make claims. With my experience, I will strongly recommend that the process to access the fund must be simplified and unnecessary bureaucracy eliminated to make it easier for beneficiaries to make their claims.
The mission of the team was to launch a programme to streamline the galamsey menace which seem to be on ascendancy since the NDC assumed power. As a nation we have toyed with measures to curb the excesses of galamsey to the extent that today, galamsey has turned to haunt the nation. So many lives have been lost as a result of various direct mining accidents and so many lives are endangered as a result of chemical poisoning. These include, tunnel collapses, flooding, dynamite explosions, mercury poisoning, respiratory diseases, poisoned water, mosquito-borne diseases and many others. Sadly, the real danger we face as a nation is sacrificing our farmlands and water for gold. This should not be allowed to happen!
The use of mercury, cyanide and other poisonous chemicals to extract the gold has exposed our water, soil and humans to these dangerous chemicals. Serious health problems such as neurological damage, kidney diseases and developmental issues in children have already been detected in some of the mining areas. Other heavy metals such as arsenic, cadmium, and lead are released into the environment, posing risks through contamination of drinking water, food, fish and vegetables. What is worrying is that even if we stop galamsey today, the elimination of the chemical residues in our waters and land will take an exceptionally long time to achieve. Exposing our future generations to these chemicals in this reckless manner is criminal and irresponsible and there is no justification for it. The government must institute drastic measures to eradicate galamsey since no amount of gold can cover the damage to the land and water. No human can survive on earth without food and water.
We have passed the blame game stage. The NDC and the NPP have all had their share of the blame and the time has come for the two parties to put an end to any political game if there is. As a nation we must conclude that galamsey is dangerous and a threat to our livelihood. We must gather courage and do what is expected of us irrespective of our political beliefs and economic gains.
The hue and cry of spirits of darkness surrounding the crash has died down but there are still people hanging on to wild stories about the accident. The office set up by the government to handle prophesies, claims they have received over 200 reports already of which eighty percent are of no value. Who evaluated them and with what authority? Many of the so-called prophets have seen an avenue to cash in some money and obviously will not rest until they benefit from this opportunity. Mr Elvis Afriyie Ankrah, the envoy in charge of the Interfaith and Ecumenical Relations emphasises that the review of prophecies is just one of the broader role of his office which includes “working with ECOWAS, African Union, the United Nations and local faith communities to strengthen interfaith harmony”. Oh! what is this?
The mystery of a helicopter crash has sent the whole nation on a wild goose chase for answers to a crash which is beyond understanding. Many lives have been lost and many more will be lost. Many lives have been endangered and many more will be endangered. For how long will this continue? We must put a stop to this madness and abolish galamsey totally.
Gold cannot replace our land and water resources.
By Brig-Gen (Rtd) J. Odei