Kintampo tragedy: The witches are innocent!

On Wednesday evening, February 17, 2016, a friend, Balami Edward of TV3 sent me a message on Whatsapp.

He asked whether I had heard the “B/A accidents.”

“Yes, the ferry. Right?” I asked.

“Hmm. Yeah,” he replied.

“I heard it on the news.” I added.

Indeed, I had heard the story of the sinking ferry on the 6pm news. I was thrown into a state of shock. A passenger, onboard the ferry, had called for rescue through the media. I was waiting, rather impatiently, to hear that they have been rescued.

Balami asked yet another question.

“What about that of Kintampo?”

Immediately, I could feel my heart pounding. A Metro Mass Transit (MMT) bus with registration number AS 7131 had collided with a tomatoes-loaded truck on the Kintampo-Tamale road!

“I hear it is serious,” he reminded.

That accident, we later learnt, claimed over 70 people’s lives!

A number of factors seemed to have contributed to that Wednesday’s tragedy.

I will discuss these contributing factors with you, shortly. We will, as well, look at ways of averting such a preventable accident in the near future. But before we do the discussions, we must, first, wish the respective bereaved families our condolences.

A minute of silence for the faithfully departed.

Whew!

From media reports based on interviews with some of the accident survivors and experts, I have categorised the contributing factors to the Kintampo accident below:

Bus driver likely ‘guilty’

A story on Citifmonline had it that: “According to ASP Tawiah, Spokesperson of the Brong Ahafo Regional Police Command, initial investigations suggest that the accident was caused by wrongful overtaking on a sharp curve by the MMT bus driver. That conclusion, he says, stems from the account of the survivors.”

On Radio Ghana’s Behind the News, February 19, 2016, a road safety and transport consultant, Mr. Godfred Achia Darkwa, also blamed the MMT bus driver for the accident.

“Information reaching my desk indicate that the vehicle had a problem with its breaks. The driver asked somebody to fix it. When he fixed it, it couldn’t fix and [driver] said let’s go with it. A license F driver should never take this decision.”

The cows

A story on Myjoyonline, “Passengers carrying body parts blamed for Kintampo crash” dated February 23, said the MMT bus driver hit three cows before ramming into the truck.

Do we know the owner of these cows? Why would one’s livestock roam anyhow?

Metro Mass Transit buses not in good condition

On the same Behind the News, another account on the MMT was given.

Former management member of the MMT, Samuel Ayempe, said: “As a former workshop manager, I still have contact with some of the supervisors and mechanics at the various workshops. For quality of drivers, I will say yes. But, recent information I was receiving from some of the mechanics and drivers indicated clearly that maintenance of the buses has gone down.”

Mr. Ayempe, current MP for Ayensuano in the Easter region, bemoaned the lack of buses at the various MMT depots due to majority of these buses being left to rot at mechanic shops.

“Metro Mass needs total overhauling. For the preliminary investigation into the accident so far, I think the blame should be put at the doorsteps of the Metro Mass and the driver, as well.”

But what did Mr. Ayempe do himself when he gathered the MMT buses were not in good shape?

No ambulance

After the accident occurred, getting ambulances to transport the survivors to the hospital was another hurdle.

Citifmonline’s story, “Kintampo crash: More died due to faulty ambulance” dated February 19, 2016, said that “More lives could not be saved in the Wednesday night accident on the Kintampo-Tamale Highway, due to logistical challenges facing the Brong Ahafo Regional Ambulance Service.

“Apparently, the Ambulance Service’s attempts to convey the victims to the hospital delayed because the nearest and only ambulance at the Kintampo Municipal Hospital had broken down.”

No oxygen

Another story, “Kintampo Crash: Survivors die over lack of medical supplies” dated February 17, 2016, on Ghonetv read that: “Some survivors, of the Kintampo accident which has killed over 60 people, died because the Kintampo Municipal Hospital lacked medical supplies such us oxygen, and other essential first aid deliveries.”

In another development, in the course of that very week of the accident, a number of other accidents occurred. According to a Joy FM news report on February 22;

A conductor of a bus died on the spot in an accident at Amasaman with six others getting injured. This was on February 16.

On February 18, the Tano Health District Director (Brong Ahafo) was killed in a Bechem-Duayaw Nkwanta car accident.

Still a gory week, one person died with six others injured on the Elmina highway while a car crash in Suhum killed two mourners; all the two on February 20.

These deaths in a week are said to be highest in two years!

Certainly, we cannot wrap up the week’s accidents without mentioning the poor nature of our roads.

Unauthorized speed humps on our highways cannot be left out of the equation. According to Victor Owusu, Director of Road Safety at the Ghana Highways Authority, they are demolishing inappropriate speed humps; some of which were done by the local assembly.

He spoke to Behind the News show.

Mr. Owusu, however, urged us to make road safety our priority since this could have prevented the Kintampo tragedy.

“The politicians would go on the platform and say, ‘if you vote for me I will give you thousand kilometers of road.’ How many of them say if you vote me to power, I will reduce fatality by this [margin]?” he rhetorically asked.

Typical of my fellow black men, we may never probe into what caused these accidents. We may just go back to bed, wake up, and wine and dine after shedding crocodile tears.

However, we must not forget that these tragedies did not stop vehicular movement across the country. A generational thinker must, therefore, be quick to assume that the factor(s) that led to the accident may just repeat itself.

In 2013, the Arizona Republic newspaper’s breaking news story “Yarnell Hill Fire” chronicled a wild fire destroying Yarnell, a community northwest of Phoenix. In that fire, 19 firefighters died combating the fire.

Just a day after the incident, while new firefighters battled the blaze, investigations were commissioned to ascertain the cause of the 19 firefighters’ death.

Here in Ghana, first, a government delegation flew to Kintampo empty handed to assess the situation. Later in the days ahead, there will be a press launch of investigation into the accident.

All these done, the findings on the accident will be dust-blown on the shelves. After all, we have the witches to blame.

It is high time we learnt that the so-called witches are innocent. To avoid a future occurrence, we must do what is expected.

The writer is a journalist and a cultural activist.

Email: nehusthan4@yahoo.com

Twitter: @Aniwaba

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