Parliament Observes A Minute Silence For Kintampo Accident Victims

Parliament, on Tuesday, has observed a minute silence for victims of  Kintampo – Techiman highway accident.

The House came under heavy criticisms when they observed a minute silence for victims of Mozambique cyclone Idai, as well as the Christchurch shootings in New Zealand, after it appeared they had abandoned victims of last Friday's accident.

Ghanaians on social media called out the leadership for failing to speak about the accidents that took over 70 lives on Friday.

Reacting to the issue, Speaker of Parliament Professor Mike Oquaye vehemently refuted accusations that the House does not care about Ghanaians in the wake of its remembrance of victims of Cyclone Idai and New Zealand shooting, but not the Kintampo accident victims.

He explained that the "work of Parliament has its own format and processes" and that "if you don't understand the way parliament works, you will think they were insensitive" to the victims of last Friday's accidents.

The Speaker of Parliament said; “Of the road accident involving the two buses. It has come to my attention that some members of the public, have wondered why there was no statement of this tragedy yesterday in this honorable house at the time where we had talked about some tragedy elsewhere. We have a parliamentary press corp if the media will engage them on such matters before relevant reportage because we had good reason yesterday, the honorable member who had already filed a statement had to go outside because of what had occurred in her constituency, and leadership agreed that she must be the appropriate person to lead the statement of this in this honourable house.

He also added; “We will want the public to also publish this as a way of reflecting the truth of the matter, this house is very much concerned about such matters and will address such matters with expedition and dutifully.

He further stressed that the allegation that the House was not concerned about the plight of Ghanaians is misguided stating “this Honourable House is very . . . very much concerned with such matters and have addressed such matters with expedition and dutifully at all relevant times.”

A total of 60 people lost their lives in various accidents across the country with the most gory accident claiming about 40 lives.

The crash involved a VVIP Kia bus travelling from Garu in the Upper East Region to Kumasi and a Grandbird bus travelling from Accra to Bolgantaga.

A mass burial was held for 39 of the people who died because they were burnt beyond recognition.