June 3rd National Disaster
The rattling signs of rain on the upcoming June 3rd,2017 celebration,would certainly rekindle in the minds of the families of deceased persons and Ghanaians as a whole of the dreadful and yet still,the unforgettable day in the history of Ghana where some well meaning Ghanaians perished.
We are told over one-hundred and fifty-nine(159) souls went down mother earth on this faithful day.
Accra,the capital of Ghana was brought to a stand still,when heavy rains White washed some parts of the capital precisely, Kwame Nkrumah circle at the Goil filing station sweeping away life's and over Ghc 1,658,847.000 Worth of property.
Indeed,those precious life's can't be resurrected back to life,not on earth at least,if not in heaven.
But something can be done about it at least,to prevent such unpleasant occurrences in the future.We have experienced once and should not experience same or similar unfortunate occurrences because we are now experienced.
Two years down memory lane,strolling through this torturing and agonising moment in the history of Ghana,little has been done to combat some of these unforseen circumstances from rearing their ugly heads again in our country.
This unfortunate incident occurred largely due to human preventable remote factors rather than the purported claims that the situation was further escalated by a smoker whose action eventually led to severe out breaks of wild fire leading to human bodies being burnt beyond carnal recognition.
Unfortunately,events that have trans-metamorphosis into this bizarre development still persist. Most gutters are still filled with massive filth.
Also, the odaw and korle lagoon which are supposed to be the receiving point of liquid waste from the gutters are heavily filled with solid waste due to the indiscriminate dumping of plastic and other solid materials into the gutters and into both the odaw and korle lagoon preventing the free flow liquid waste.
Not forgetting,the setting of settlements for human abode and other service provides such as that of the Goil filing station where many of the deceased victim's took temporary shield but little did they know that,that haven would have led to their untimely demise.
Well,this indiscriminate cultural attitude which has subtly been integrated into the life's of Ghanaian continues unabated. In the same vein,the authorities in charge of enforcing the laws on the other hand,hold their hands in a great sense of aloofness as those events continue to happen within their watch.
June 3rd National Disaster rained on the conscious of the authorities to constitute a five member committee chaired by a former appeals court judge,Mr.Justice Isaac Douse to probe into the underlying factors that led to the unpalatable scene which would surely,take a longtime to erase from Ghana's dark day of disaster historical records where the authorities hastily declared three days of national mourning.
Shocking enough,after spending state money on the so called committee,the major recommendations proposed to curtail future unforseen circumstances from manifesting have been left to the discretion of natural factors to decide. Wasted time and resources is the end result!
Regrettable,I guess! But that is what is happening. Some of the recommendations include compulsory provision of bins or baskets for all commercial vehicles operators, total dredging of the Odaw and korle lagoon,establishing sanitation police, provision of ambulances and helicopters fire fighters,certification and licensing of fuel station attendance among other recommendations...These recommendations have been left or paltry implemented and this can even lead to some aggravated situations than what we have already bitterly experienced.
Surprisingly,the authorities are always reluctant in unleashing the full rigors of the law most particular, the politician as they disguise themselves and disarm the law for the secret imbeded fear that they would lose votes.
Well,much need not be said,the authorities in charge must up their game in the swift implementation of sanitation related issues and better still, mete out the full wrath of law on individual who flagrantly flout sanitary regulations.
Also,there is the earnest need to have the nationalist spirit fully encrypted within us So that, we would keep our environs clean and most importantly, the implementation of sanitation laws detached from rooted political reasons and the findings and recommendations of the five member committee need to be fully cemented into reality.
This would help safeguard our motherland from such preventable disasters any time soon...
Good bless our homeland Ghana and make our nation bold,great and strong....