A security analyst and retired military officer, Colonel Festus Aboagye, has mounted a spirited defense of the Ghana Armed Forces (GAF) against public criticism regarding their response time to the tragic helicopter crash on August 6.
Eight prominent Ghanaians, including the Minister for Defence, Dr. Edward Omane Boamah, and the Minister for Environment, Science, Technology, and Innovation, Alhaji Dr. Ibrahim Murtala Mohammed, perished in the accident.
Speaking on JoNews’ PM Express programme on Monday, August 11, Col. Aboagye (Rtd) argued that an objective look at the timeline of events shows the military’s response was not only timely but commendable.
“The news started filtering out… remember we are talking of 1100 hours plus,” Col. Aboagye stated, stressing that official communication channels take time to activate.
He detailed that upon receiving the information, the General Officer Commanding the Southern Command immediately tasked the Forward Operating Base in Obuasi and the 4th Infantry Battalion (4BN) in Kumasi to launch a search and rescue operation.
“It’s on record,” he asserted. “The record that I have shows that the search and rescue team deployed by the 4th Infantry Battalion got to the crash site by 1400 hours.”
This timeline indicates that from the point of official notification, it took the military less than three hours to mobilise and reach the difficult, forested terrain of the crash site near Sikaman in the Adansi Akrofuom area of the Ashanti Region.
The Z-9 military helicopter had taken off from Accra around 09:12 AM, heading towards Obuasi for the launch of a Responsible Cooperative Mining and Skills Development Programme, before it went off the radar.
Eyewitnesses in the forest reported seeing the helicopter go down around 09:50 AM.
Col. Aboagye lamented that the initial period before the GAF’s arrival presented a significant challenge for the subsequent investigation.
“The locals who were in the forest had seen it. They had started moving to the crash site and had started taking away broken parts and so on, which are critical exhibits,” he explained. The disturbance of a crash site can severely compromise the integrity of evidence needed to determine the cause of such an incident.
To put the GAF’s response into perspective, Col. Aboagye drew a stark comparison with a previous aviation disaster.
“Indeed, compared to Atiwa, which took three days to find the crash site, this crash site was found the same day,” he noted. “You and I were here when the coffins arrived on the night of the 6th.”
The swift recovery of the victims, allowing for their solemn return to Accra on the same day as the crash, underscores the efficiency of the operation, he argued.
The tragic incident, which the government has declared a “national tragedy”, also claimed the lives of Alhaji Muniru Mohammed, Acting Deputy National Security Coordinator; Dr. Samuel Sarpong, Vice Chairman of the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC); Mr. Samuel Aboagye, a former parliamentary candidate; and three crew members from the Ghana Air Force: Squadron Leader Peter Bafemi Anala, Flying Officer Manin Twum-Ampadu, and Sergeant Ernest Addo Mensah.
An investigation into the cause of the crash is currently underway by the Ghana Armed Forces.
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