Eastern Regional Minister prays for gas explosion victims
The Eastern Regional Minister, Mrs Helen Adjoa Ntoso, last Sunday, exhibited her evangelistic powers at Kwahu Fodoa by engaging in a 20-minute non-stop Christian prayers for two victims of the gas explosion which hit the town at the weekend.
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Ironically, the two victims, one Madam Aishetu, who was not directly affected by the inferno but was traumatised and the other, Mr Muhamed Osman, who sustained injuries and also lost four of his five children, submitted to the prayers which they hoped would help them to overcome their trauma.
Relief items
Mrs Adjoa Ntoso, who was also a Christian evangelist, was in the town to present relief items to 126 of the inhabitants who were directly affected by the gas explosion which had so far claimed eight lives.
As soon as she had presented the relief items — bags of rice, maize and blankets — to the community leaders on behalf of President John Mahama, her attention was drawn to the two victims and she rushed to their houses where she laid her hands on them and prayed fervently for them.
Community astonished
Mrs Adjoa Ntoso, who seemed to have been possessed by the Holy Spirit, continued to pray for the victims for about 10 minutes each to the astonishment of the inhabitants, mostly Muslims.
Some of the Muslims who did not believe that a regional minister and a Christian could break protocol to pray for the victims were heard saying, “after all Christianity and Islam are bedfellows and the prayers will foster unity among the people in the town made up of Muslims and Christians”.
Earlier, Mrs Adjoa Ntoso had told the gathering that the presentation was the first step being taken by the government to assist the victims, and that building materials such as roofing sheets and cement would be made available for them to rehabilitate their buildings which were damaged by the fire.
Chiefs praise government
Nana Yaw Owusu Kyere II, Chief of Kwahu Bisease on whose land the disaster occurred and Nana Prof. Agyakwa Frempong, Chief of Kwahu Fodoa, who shares borders with Bisease as well as the Bisease Sarikin Zongo, Alhaji Omaru Muhammed were full of praise for the government for coming to their aid.
It would be recalled that a gas tanker on its way from Nkawkaw to Kumasi at the weekend crashed into a building at Kwahu Fodoa. The accident resulted in volumes of the gas leaking to the nearby Muslim community of Kwahu Bisease burning to death a five-month-old baby boy.
Seven out of the 27 victims, who were rushed to the nearby Presbyterian Health Centre at Kwahu Praso, the Holy Family Hospital at Nkawkaw and the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital, Kumasi, also died and were buried at the weekend in line with the Islamic traditions.