June 3 disaster: Full report made public

The Bureau of Public Safety says it has intercepted a copy of the full report of the June 3 fire and water disaster and has made it available for public consumption.

The bureau in a statement said its decision to publish the report is to enable citizens appreciate the full impact of their acts of commission or omission and also hold duty bearers accountable.

The bureau further asserts that after studying the 197-page report, they concluded that “state institutions responsible for instituting corrective actions by implementing recommendations have either failed to discharge themselves fully or have simply gone to sleep after the caskets were closed and the flags flying half-masts were lifted.”

On 3 June 2015, 154 lives were lost in devastating floods and fire explosions with over 150 persons sustaining various degrees of burns in the incident.

Government set up a committee to investigate the cause of the disaster and prescribe solution to avert future occurrence.

Below is the full statement:

PRESS STATEMENT: JUNE 3 FULL INVESTIGATION NOW AVAILABLE

Since its establishment the Bureau of Public Safety (BPS) have mutually engaged with government agencies, businesses and experts on several fronts towards enhancing occupational and public safety across Ghana.

The Bureau of Public Safety have been calling on government since 2012 to make public full accident investigation reports but to no avail. It is important to note that till date not a single request submitted in writing largely to the Interior Ministry or calls through the media have been responded to.

Nonetheless, the BPS having intercepted an authentic, credible and a bona fide copy of the full report of June 3rd 2015 ‘Fire Flood’ accident (popularly referred to as June 3rd disaster) investigations have decided to publish same in the interest of the general public to enable citizens appreciate the full impact of their acts of commissions or omissions and also hold duty bearers accountable.

Our decision is pinned on revelations contained in the report, which in our expert estimation government must urgently take steps to address.

After studying the 197 page document we are fully persuaded that State institutions responsible for instituting corrective actions (by implementing recommendations) have either failed to discharge themselves fully or have simply gone to sleep after the caskets were closed and the flags flying half-masts were lifted.

We are therefore inviting the media, the clergy, chiefs, prominent citizens and the entire public to join in the campaign to get the Government to as a matter of urgency:

1. Revisit all accident investigation reports since 2012 to review and evaluate recommendations submitted therein with the ultimate view to implementing corrective measures proposed by the various investigation teams.

2. To publish in full all accident investigation reports submitted herein and cause same to be discussed (accident findings and recommendations) publicly at government sponsored fora, as is the case in most accountable and transparent jurisdictions. Indeed elsewhere video animations of such incidents are produced to enable mass public appreciation of accounts to aid in responsibility sharing towards assuring greater public safety.

This campaign by the BPS will rage on for as long as the State holds on to these reports. The Bureau of Public Safety will continue to use all legally justifiable means to obtain or secure credibly bona fide copies of such reports and shall make same public upon satisfying ourselves that they are indeed genuine.

We are by this press statement further requesting the general public, especially the media to access the full report of the June 3rd disaster report at the link below, to diligently propagate same and ask duty bearers the relevant questions.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/o51nw4dred5469m/JUNE_3RD_REPORT.pdf?dl=0

Note: This link opens without issues on PC and Mac if you dont have dropbox installed on your phone.

While the BPS acknowledges the commitment of government, and for that matter this administration towards improving public Safety and Security, we hold the view that by merely assembling journalists and reading selected recommendations out to them at the receipt of accident investigation reports is injustice to the living, the surviving victims, and the dead.