Mourning the Eight, breaking galamsey?
In the space of eight months, we have moved from the giddy ‘breaking the eight’ political campaign slogan to ‘mourning the eight’, following a fatal helicopter accident near Obuasi.
From the comfort of our television sets and mobile phone screens, images of twisted metal helicopter parts stared at us, strewn across the dense forest hillside and jutting from the ground. One could almost smell the pungent, acrid smoke billowing from smouldering fires, and with it, fuzzy images of the charred human remains.
The indignity of our fellow human beings being carted off the crash site in cocoa sacks hit all of us hard, and with it the rawness and brutality, not just of what had just happened, but the futility and fragility of life itself.
One can only imagine the fear and panic the eight passengers on the doomed helicopter must have felt as the aircraft plummeted towards the ground, and with it, perhaps the realisation that these were their final moments on earth.
Those who were supposed to be on the flight but for whatever reason did not make it must be reeling from the shock of cheating death by the skin of their teeth.
Several issues have arisen for discussion in the public square in the wake of this ghastly accident.
Even though an official report on the cause of the crash is not yet ready, several people have conjectured over it, citing human error, poor weather and sabotage.
However, to fob off legitimate concerns and questions about certain inadequacies around the response timing and the securing of the crash site as ‘theories’, and to airily dismiss valid views as emanating from ‘armchair experts’ is, in my view, a needless defensive posturing.
It detracts from the real prospects of doing better should the need arise, which hopefully will not be any time soon.
Securing a crash site to preserve vital forensic evidence, key to investigations, should not be rocket science.
It is also not good enough to simply claim that the remains could not be put in body bags because of the high temperatures due to the burning and leave it at that, because it assumes all body bags are unable to stand high temperatures.
But a basic internet search reveals that there are body bags designed to withstand high temperatures.
What this simply means is that none of these were available to convey the bodies from a helicopter crash site where there was a real prospect of burned bodies, which then begs the legitimate question, ‘Why not?’
These are legitimate matters of public interest and lessons will have to be learned from a much fuller picture of the ground situation.
There is then a discussion on the state of our aircraft, along with issues surrounding the possible procurement of new ones.
Of course, that comes with its own partisan political melodrama because it has been the subject of heated debate in the past when the two main parties were on the other side of where they are now.
With a sitting MP involved in the crash, a bye-election is also up on the horizon, even though the NPP has indicated it will not field a candidate.
Galamsey!
We are told that the eight gentlemen who perished were on their way to attend a state function at Obuasi for the launch of a programme to tackle the galamsey menace.
On this score, there have been passionate calls for their deaths to spur action on galamsey, so that their deaths are not in vain.
Perhaps I should seek forgiveness at this point for not being optimistic that the menace will see a renewed fight.
We have been there before, with the lynching of Major Mahama back in 2017, whilst he was on an anti-galamsey mission in the Central Region.
We were all distraught and the state even put up a statue in his honour.
There were passionate calls for galamsey action following his grisly murder.
Then we all got tired and quietly the good Major became just another silent statue stuck on a roundabout.
Reality check
The harsh truth is that despite the grand conferences in plush hotels, the fine, impassioned calls and the military firepower deployed at these sites, the fight is barely scratching the surface of the problem.
Having grown up in Tarkwa and Prestea, I am all too aware of how it drives local economies ‒ chop bars, clubs, hotels, other private businesses and even prostitutes, among many others.
Even pit deaths do not deter those in the pits, just as they insist road accidents do not deter other drivers or passengers from travelling on the roads ‒ an occupational hazard, if you like.
They are hard-wired, poor and desperate and see the urban complainants as being able to afford the luxury of condemnation.
The young men and women at the pit front line are just cheap fodder in the grand scheme of things.
The real barons are out of sight and in many cases are respectable, powerful individuals from all sections of society who value the allure of gold and the wealth it brings over environmental preservation.
They simply do not care about the next generation.
With typical Ghanaian attitudes and Major Mahama in mind, my instinct is that with official mourning over following the grand state funeral, the rolling away of the cameras, the media moving on to other stories and with the replacement of the public officials who perished, the deaths will slowly recede from the public mind.
Meanwhile, the desecration of our environment will continue with reckless abandon, and with it, grand conferences and seminars in plush Accra hotels, featuring flowery, fiery speeches followed by sumptuous lunches, ice-cold beer and lots of belching, until the next galamsey-related national tragedy comes along.
I desperately hope I am wrong this time around.
May the souls of the eight departed gentlemen rest in peace with the Lord.
Rodney Nkrumah-Boateng.
E-mail: rodboat@yahoo.com
