President John Dramani Mahama has invited American experts to help in studying and analysing the black box retrieved from the military helicopter which crashed on August 6, claiming eight lives, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, has said.
The minister confirmed that the government had written formally to American experts to assist with the investigation as independent officers to avoid any suspicion.
The American experts, Mr Ablakwa said, would soon arrive in the country, as contained in their response to the government’s request.
“I can confirm to you that on the instruction of His Excellency, President John Dramani Mahama, we have formally requested the Americans to come in and assist.
“We all know that they have considerable expertise when it comes to these matters. So, the indication we have received from the Americans is that they are very much willing to assist.
The Americans have responded, and we are expecting the arrival of American experts soon to help us with the investigations,” he said.
He emphasised that the government believed that involving independent experts would ensure that the outcome of the investigations would be acceptable to all, so that there would also be confidence in the process.
Mr Ablakwa added that nobody had anything to hide, stressing that it was important that the process was done in a thorough manner that would be at par with international standard and practice.
Chinese manufacturers
The Minister of Foreign Affairs said the government had also made contact with the Chinese manufacturers of the crashed helicopter, and as such they were currently on standby to help with investigations.
“I can confirm to you that the Chinese have already been contacted, and the manufacturers are standing by. Indeed, the briefing we have received from the Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) is that there is a standing protocol where the black box must be, as it were, made available to the manufacturer. In this case, the manufacturers of the Z9 helicopter.
“So, they are standing by. But, in the President's wisdom, he does not want anything to proceed without independent experts.
I think that it is quite fair so that we will just avoid all doubts so that people will not raise issues of probable conflict of interest, maybe people with some kind of special interest trying to cover up, and all of that,” he stated.
He expressed gratitude to the American partners for agreeing to assist the government in this regard.
Transparency
Mr Ablakwa said the President wanted utmost transparency, and gave the assurance that in every step of the investigation, Ghanaians would be made aware of developing issues.
“At all steps of the way, when these experts arrive, when the investigations commence, when the investigations progress, when the investigations conclude, every stage of the way, the Ghanaian people should know about what is happening,” he said.
“I have heard some civil society organisations and some other analysts raise concern about, if you like, the lack of information about the investigative processes.
It is just because it hasn't commenced.
“We are waiting for the experts before these investigations are done. That is why you probably have not been getting regular updates on the investigation, of course, taking into account national security considerations,” the minister said.
He emphasised that the patriots that died in the crash represented good governance, accountability, a great sense of commitment to facts, to truth, not distorting, not concocting, and not concealing anything.
Mr Ablakwa said it was in the interest of the country that the helicopter crash victims were honoured “by making sure that even as they are no longer with us, these ideals which they had always represented, which they stood for, must continue to be espoused and actually advanced in a very concrete manner”.
