“Can a Ghanaian go to China and cause such devastation on the lives of its citizens, and still be allowed to go scot-free?”
That was the question asked by Kobby, who was among passersby who fell victim to the May 9 gas explosions at the Ghana Household Utilities Manufacturing Company Limited (GHUMCO), located along the Sekondi-Takoradi road, here in Takoradi.
The incident left 180 people with varied degrees of burns; some dreadfully maimed and permanently disfigured.
It has been five months since the blasts, and Kobby is amongst some of the victims who still go to the hospital for treatment and also to get their injuries dressed.
I winced when I saw Kobby’s wounds.
“I had just alighted from a ‘tro-tro’”, says Kobby. “I was with a colleague of mine. It was around 7 in the morning. We just started walking towards our work place, then, boom, a loud blast! We weren’t even close to the tankers. We were across the street, close to 100 meters away.”
Kobby added that, the force of the blasts smashed him and his colleague against some sign boards by the side of the road. “Our bodies were immediately on fire,” he continued. “I think I lost consciousness, because when I came back to my senses I was running. There were other people running alongside me. We run for about 200 meters, nonstop. There were screams of pain and agony from all of us as we run. It was like hell.”
According to Kobby, he along with his colleague and the people running along with him were bused to the New Takoradi Health Center, and later to the Effia Nkwanta Regional Hospital by a good Samaritan.
He explained that he was admitted for two months at the Effia Nkwanta Regional Hospital due to the extent of his injury, and he paid the bills himself.
For about a fortnight however, Kobby has been unable to go to the hospital because of lack of money. What’s worse, his burns aren’t thoroughly healed.
The Deputy Minister for Energy, Dr. Amin Adam, following the GHUMCO explosions, announced that the government instead of footing the bills of victims of accidents such as this will rather lay that responsibility on the culprit implicated in whatever findings are conducted.
When the 13 member committee which was set up to investigate the cause of the blasts concluded its findings and delivered its report to the Western Regional Minister, Dr. Kwaku Afriyie, it came to light that, the conductor (mate) of the tanker who was discharging the gas from the tanker into GHUMCO’s cylinder was only employed three months prior to the accident and was not appropriately trained.
The report further stated that, the ‘mate’ was alleged to have took to his heels when he detected the leakage, instead of shutting the valve which might have drastically reduced what damage was caused.
GHUMCO was further directed by the 13-member committee to pay an amount totaling GHc 138,000 as hospital bill for all the 180 victims of the explosions.
However, according to Kobby, he and the other victims are yet to receive a pesewa from GHUMCO.
He revealed that the only money given him was GHc 200 which represented his share of the GHc 150 donation from the National Petroleum Authority (NPA) to the victims of the GHUMCO gas explosions.
He along with some of the victims, who spoke with Beach 105.5 FM, as part of a follow-up on the incident five months after it occurred, bemoaned the government’s lackadaisical approach in ensuring that GHUMCO cater for their well-being.
They are hereby pleading with the government to put pressure on the Ghana Household Utilities Manufacturing Company Limited, to at least, cater for their medical bills, like they are doing for staff of the company.
~ Godwin Kpade
