President John Dramani Mahama has called on Ghanaians to stop the blame game over last Wednesday’s flood and fire disasters in Accra.
Rather, he said, they should collectively seek ways to prevent future occurrence, since the finger-pointing did not hold anything good for the nation.
Speaking at the national memorial service for victims of the disasters at the forecourt of the State House in Accra yesterday, the President said losing so many precious lives had put the country in trying moments but expressed the hope that the collective character of Ghanaians would prevail.
He said public discussions should not be centred on what other governments did not do but rather "what this government must do, for which we shall".
The occasion was as solemn as expected, with a high number of dignitaries, including Vice-President Kwesi Bekoe Amissah-Arthur, in attendance.
Also present were former Presidents Jerry John Rawlings and John Agyekum Kufuor; the Speaker of Parliament, Mr Edward Doe Adjaho; the leadership of Parliament; the Chief Justice, Mrs Justice Georgina Theodora Wood; the flag bearer of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, and his running mate, Dr Mahamudu Bawumia.
Solemn convocation
With a joint Police and Army Band in attendance to provide music in between prayers and Scripture readings by top clergy and religious leaders of the country, as well as solemn hymns, perhaps the most sobering nature of the gathering was the sight of wailing members of bereaved families who could not be consoled.
Clad in black and red mourning clothes, the bereaved families shed tears freely, moaned and wailed as the short service in memory of those who died in the Goil Filling Station explosion and Accra floods trudged on.
152 lives lost
The fire and flood disasters, which have so far claimed a provisional 152 lives, happened in the evening of June 3, following torrential rains in the national capital.
Most of the people died from the inferno that occurred at the GOIL Filling Station near the Kwame Nkrumah Circle.
DNA Test
President Mahama said he had ordered DNA tests to be conducted on bodies that were yet to be identified, with the view to establishing their identities.
Consequently, he asked families whose relatives had been missing since that day to support the health authorities in the conduct of the tests.
He said in due course the names of all the dead whose bodies had been identified would be released to the public, so that they would forever be remembered by the nation.
"The lives the nation has lost are incomprehensible," he said.
He said the government had set up a central coordinating centre for relief support at the Greater Accra Regional Coordinating Council to facilitate proper distribution of relief items.
External support
President Mahama acknowledged the messages of solidarity, financial and material support from other countries.
He mentioned particularly Senegal, which donated $150,000, and Côte d'Ivoire and Togo, which jointly gave $50,000 and relief items.
The President commended state agencies, private institutions, individuals, journalists, among others, who had all played their part to restore order after the disasters.
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