Death toll in boat disaster now ninety-nine
Cop arrested for sniffing cocaine
Tenant bites landlady’s ear, chew and swallow
Dangerous toothpastes flood the market
Death toll in boat disaster now ninety-nine
Tapa Botoase (Volta Region) 27 April 2002 - It has now been established that 99 bodies, including those of school children, have been recovered from the Volta Lake, following the boat accident which occurred on the Ameviovikope Island last week.
This came to light during a visit to the accident spot by the National Chairman of the Inland Canoe Fishermen Council (NICFC), Mr. Vincent Kaledzi, to console the bereaved families. Some of the survivors claimed that the boat was carrying more than 150 people when the accident occurred.
One of them, Ebenezer Asomah, said the boat was carrying more than 150 people, mostly school children and market women. He said soon after the boat started the journey at 1.30 pm, an assistant operator who was moving on the shoulders of the boat in an attempt to give an instruction fell into the lake.
He said the passengers panicked, thereby dipping the boat in the lake. He said the boat subsequently sank, resulting in the tragedy. According to Asomah, it was only a "handful of us who were able to swim ashore." He dismissed the assertion that only 50 people perished in the disaster.
"I believe there is a sinister move to cut down the number of our kith and kin who lost their lives through the negligence of others," he said. Mr Asomah, who said he personally assisted in retrieving the bodies, revealed 12 bodies were retrieved on the day of the accident, while 87 people were recovered the following day and buried in a mass grave.
Narrating her ordeal at her residence, a 48-year-old trader, Madam Georgina Wokpo, who survived with her two-year-old son, said she boarded the boat at Tapa-Abotoase around 12 pm. For Dudzoeme on the Afram Plains. She stated that barely an hour after setting off, water started seeping into the boat. The operator one Mensah, started hurling some of the cargo into the lake to save the situation, but this could not save the boat from sinking.
According to her, she quickly placed her son on one of the local mats that were floating on the lake and paddled the son across for about two hours, until a rescue boat managed to pick them ashore, adding that there, she counted 10 school children dead.
Mr Daniel Yevugah, 28, also said he initially boarded the boat, but he became so frightened that he alighted from the boat before it took off. Mr Paul Atta, 28, one of the divers, said strong tidal waves encountered during the search worsened the situation as some corpses were swept away to the surrounding islands of Dodi, Alavanyo and Odomeabra and those were buried accordingly.
He stated that with the previous disasters indelibly imprinted on the minds of residents, the youth mobilised and attacked the police for inefficiency and also for protecting the boat operator, Robert Besa, whom the mob had wanted to lynch in another boat. The Chief Fisherman, Mr Edward Abbiew-Jackson, who attributed the accident to human error, called for stringent safety measures on the lake.
Mr Vincent Kaledzi disclosed that last year, the council began negotiations with the Ministry of Agriculture to release part of the Premix contributions by fishermen for the purchase of live-jackets for use at all landing sites. He called on district assemblies to enact by-laws that will empower the present task force to prosecute those whom flout the rules on the lake with impunity.
He also expressed concern about how "this tragedy could befall us at a time when our attempt to curb accidents on our lakes is receiving attention. Superintendent G.H.K. Gbedjor, Worawora District Police Commander, has meanwhile disclosed that 11 of the victims have so far been identified by their relatives. According to an officer of Environment Health and Sanitation Unit based at Tapa-Botoase, more than 900 people have died on the lake within the last seven years.
In a related development, the board, management and staff of the Volta River Authority (VRA) have expressed regret at the news of the tragedy. A statement issued in Accra and signed by the Director of Public Affairs of the VRA, Mrs Ellen Essilfie, said "it is unfortunate that this accident should occur three months after an intensive educational programme on lake safety measures had been organized for boat owners and operators at Tapa-Abotoase".
It said "the VRA has supported boat operators on the lake to form an association as a self-policing measure to encourage the use of good boats, and check overloading and misuse of landing sites. We have also built landing sites for the operators," he added.
The statement noted with concern the impunity with which safety rules are violated by boat owners and operators in some areas on the lake and said that the VRA has intensified educational programmes and indicated that "our team on these programmes just returned from Yeji and Kutosu, near Mpraeso.
"Apart form educational programmes which are ongoing, the VRA has distributed safety equipment to boat owners and operators in these areas and emphasis has always been on creating awareness that the load-lines on vessels must not be submerged," he said. According to the statement, in spite of these measures, operators continue to flout regulations and precious lives are still being lost with careless abandon. VRA condemns the indiscipline and recklessness of some boat owners and operators on the lake," the statement said.
It, therefore appealed to district chief executives, Members of Parliament, assembly members and other opinion leaders in the lakeside communities to ensure that boats are not overloaded while boat owners and operators should ensure that passengers use life jackets. It extended the VRA's condolences to the bereaved families. - The Daily Graphic.
Send your comments to viewpoint@ghanareview.com
Kumasi (Ashanti
Region) 27 April 2002 - Constable Felix Lamptey of the Mamponteng Police
Station in Ashanti, is being held in police custody at Kumasi, for allegedly
sniffing cocaine. The Constable, who was in uniform, was caught red-handed
sniffing the stuff with a group of suspected drug addicts at the Asafo Primary
School in Kumasi, last Tuesday.
Dependable police
sources told the ‘Times’ on Sunday 21 April that following the persistent
harassment of residents of some parts of Asafo by drug addicts, the police had
been mounting swoops in the area. At about 9.30 pm on Tuesday the Zongo police
had a tip-off that a group of drug addicts were openly using the stuff on the
school premises and causing commotion in the area.
Policemen detailed to
the scene found the group in the act of sniffing the stuff. The Constable was
arrested while his accomplices managed to flee. When he was searched, an empty
cigarette packet containing some wrappers of a whitish substance suspected to
be cocaine was found. He was consequently handed over to the Regional Police
Narcotics Unit, which placed him in custody for further investigations. – The
Ghanaian Times.
Send your comments to
viewpoint@ghanareview.com
Tenant bites landlady’s ear, chew and
swallow
Accra (Greater Accra) 27 April 2002 - Cannibalism is not known in Ghana. But a very bizarre incident which took place in Accra recently, during which a female tenant at Alajo bit off the left ear of her landlady, chewed and swallowed it, suggests that human flesh can be a delicacy to some people.
The tenant was quoted as saying that she chewed and swallowed the ear to prevent doctors from stitching it back. Eye-witnesses told the police that the landlady, Joyce Naa Mensah, had always been accusing the tenant, Cecilia Esi Quashie, believed to be a Nigerian, of immoral behaviour and drug addiction.
But the tenant always refuted the allegations and said that the landlady without any basis, always accused her of having an affair with her husband. The landlady said she detected Cecilia's immoral behaviour in the first two weeks of her stay in the house, when she realised she was changing men at will.
The landlady said, she warned her to desist form such misconduct but she would not listen. She said matters came to a head on March 28 when Cecilia suddenly attacked her for daring to chastise her once again over her behaviour. Joyce said Cecilia held her neck against a wall, bit off her ear, chewed it, and swallowed the whole flesh to prevent doctors from stitching the ear back. She was also alleged to have inflicted knife wounds on the landlady.
The landlady, bleeding from the bite managed to report the incident to the Tesano Police before she was rushed to the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital. However, doctors there could not stitch the torn ear back because it was nowhere to be found. Cecilia was arraigned before the Amasaman Community Tribunal on Monday 22 April charged with assault.
She pleaded not guilty to the charge and the court presided over by Mr W.K. Owusu after examining the ear of the landlady, granted Cecilia a ¢10 million bail with a surety to be justified. She would appear again on April 29.
When the court earlier questioned Cecilia as to why she committed the offence, she told the court that, she did it in self-defence. She also told the court that, she paid ¢1.8 million as rent advance to the landlady but after occupying the room the landlady began to quarrel with her on the least provocation. "She often accuses me of chasing her husband," she said.
Counsel for Cecilia, Mr B.B. Quaye had earlier prayed the court to order the landlady to refund her client's money to her to enable her to vacate the house, describing their relationship to that of a tiger and a lion, concluding that the two cannot live in the same house.
The court advised the counsel to institute a civil case to retrieve the money, saying the court was only handing the criminal aspect of the case. The presiding judge warned the landlady and Cecilia to be of good behaviour until the case was determined. The landlady, Joyce, for her part, told the court that she had already vacated the house since her life was in danger. The case has been adjourned to April 29. - The Spectator.
Send your comments to viewpoint@ghanareview.com
Dangerous toothpastes flood the market
Accra (Greater Accra)
27 April 2002 - In spite of the earnest attempt by the Food and Drugs Board
(FDB) to curb the proliferation of unwholesome and unregistered products on the
market, it appears the board is fighting a losing battle.
A source at the board
who corroborated this in an interview with The Mirror, said for instance, there
are several types of Maxam toothpastes on the market but it is only one that is
registered with the board.
This, he said, is the
one imported from the Shanghai Tooth Paste Factory in China. “Any other type of
Maxam toothpaste currently on the market has not been registered by the board
and their safety and quality cannot be guaranteed. We, therefore, caution the
public not to patronise products that have not been registered by the FDB”.
Another toothpaste on
the market that was found to be an unregistered product is Mahima, ostensibly
imported from China but without the country of origin, manufacturer’s address,
date of manufacture and expiry, as well as other important information written
on the pack.
The source said the
products could have entered the country through unapproved routes. “This
explains why they were not brought to the FDB for testing and registration but
we will do all in our power to discourage the public from patronising such
products. We will also remove them from the shelves and destroy them whenever
we get information about their existence on the market”.
According to the
source, the FDB will soon introduce a system whereby importers will register
products that they intend to bring into the country even before they are
imported. “Under this system, the manufacturer will be required to inscribe the
FDB registration numbers on the products at the point of manufacture before
exporting to Ghana”, the source said.
The source appealed
to the public to inform the board about any products whose safety and quality
pointing out that “it is through this that we can investigate and find out the
quality or otherwise of the products and take the necessary action to save the
public from dangerous products”.
Meanwhile The Mirror
investigations have also revealed that another unregistered toothpaste, Good
Morning, which comes in a blue and white pack is being sold on the market. It
has no data on the country of origin, manufacture and expiry dates and other
vital information.
It also came to light
that most of the unregistered products are sold in the rural areas where the
people have difficulties in reading and understanding whatever is written on
the products. Some unregistered products have all the information on them
written in languages other than the English language, which is the official
language of Ghana. This makes it virtually impossible for most consumers to
read and understand the information given.
Some consumers who
spoke to The Mirror expressed regret at the poor quality of some imported
products on the market and appealed to the government to address the situation
and weed out cheap and unsafe products from the system. This, they said, will
ensure the safety of all consumers and also encourage local industries to grow
as well as produce goods with high quality -The Mirror.
Send your comments to
viewpoint@ghanareview.com