June 3: Why is Vanderpuije still at post? – MP

Member of Parliament for Tain and a member of the Public Accounts Committee, Kwasi Gyan-Tutu has questioned why the mayor of Accra, Alfred Oko Vanderpuije, is still at post after last year’s June 3 disaster.

The flood-fire disaster happened after torrential rains hit the capital for several hours, rendering mainly the Kwame Nkrumah Circle and surrounding areas flooded.

The flood waters seeped into the underground tanks for fuel storage at the Goil filling station, displacing the fuel unto the ground surface, which ignited from a spark nearby. It claimed more than 150 lives, with several others drowning in other areas, bringing the death toll to about 160.

Speaking on the Executive Breakfast Show (EBS) on Class 91.3FM Friday June 3, Mr Gyan-Tutu argued that Mr Vanderpuije must take the fall for the tragedy.

“Most of us were expecting the mayor of Accra to have announced his resignation. Personally I do not even understand why the mayor did not resign and I also don’t want to speculate why the president didn’t fire him, but I think this has been one of the problems I have been talking about that in Ghana and most of Africa, we do not actually want to own up...I don’t want to speculate, but if I were him, I would have resigned already”, the lawmaker told host Prince Minkah while discussing the way forward one year after the disaster.

Mr Vanderpuije, in an earlier interview on the show, had said he was comfortable talking about the floods in Accra because he had begun dredging the Odaw River.

Reacting to the Accra mayor’s earlier statement, Mr Gyan-Tutu said: “He is saying he is now very comfortable talking about it because some dredging has been done; it tells you that he is owning up that if he had dredged at that time, the problem wouldn’t have arisen. He is now telling us if he had dredged earlier that problem of last year wouldn’t have happened. He is now admitting that there was some negligence. …What stopped him from doing that dredging earlier? There was some failure somewhere, and, at least, one head should have rolled. If he, as a boss, knew that somebody was negligent, he should have fired the person, if he didn’t, then he, as the boss, should have taken the blame and resigned”.