The Bureau of Public Safety, has called on the Ministry of Interior to investigate circumstances that led to the stampede, killing nine people at the Asawase community centre in Kumasi, in the Ashanti Region.
It also wants the recommendations arising from the investigation to be implemented across the country.
[contextly_sidebar id=”x7mqyZc98FFuscMHN9ihBjHlBHzUTQJs”]The Bureau in a statement said it wanted the Interior Ministry to “publish findings and cause recommendations to apply to all event centres across the country.”
Preliminary investigations into the incident have revealed the stampede was caused when the electric meter in the centre caught fire.
The Asokore Mampong Municipal Chief Executive, Nurudeen Hamidan, confirmed this to Citi News’ Lauretta Timah after a meeting with the Municipal Security Council, noting that the meter catching fire sparked the chaos in the centre.
Citizens should not be denied an investigation
The Bureau indicated that, a thorough investigation into the stampede is warranted for the sake of citizens even thought safety standards are still poor.
“If appointing authorities cannot hold individuals tasked to ensure public safety accountable; the citizens should not be denied the benefit of non-recurrence through investigation and publication of reports,” the statement said.
“We trust that the Minister of Interior will show commitment to public safety by heeding our call this time around,” the statement added.
Find below the Bureau’s full statement
ASAWASE STAMPEDE: NOT UNFAMILIAR TO GHANA’S PUBLIC SAFETY MISHAPS
We are saddened by the loss of lives in this incident and we wish to call on the Minister of Interior to investigate circumstances leading to this incident and cause recommendations arising out of same to be implemented across the nation.
Indeed we, at the Bureau of Public Safety, are very indignant that as a nation with public safety institutions and elaborate laws and regulations, Ghana still finds a place in the news for reasons not unfamiliar.
If appointing authorities cannot hold individuals tasked to ensure public safety accountable; the citizens should not be denied the benefit of non-recurrence through investigation and publication of reports.
We would be very much interested to examine to what extent the Community Centre in question complied with the LI 1724 of the Ghana National Fire Service and other local authority regulations with regard to occupancy limits, among others.
We would also need to understand circumstances that led to the celebrants defying police orders to end the program at a certain time, and furthermore what exactly happened in the course of the program leading to that stampede which proved fatal for some nine persons and other injured persons.
The Bureau of Public Safety wish to commiserate with families who lost their loved ones in this stampede in the early hours of Thursday 7th July, 2016 and encourage same to join in the call for proper investigation into the disaster, publish findings and cause recommendations to apply to all event centre across the country.
We trust that the Minister of Interior will show commitment to public safety by heeding our call this time around.
——-SIGNED——— Nana Yaw Akwada (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR)
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By: Delali Adogla-Bessa/citifmonline.com/Ghana