In his view, “there is a lot of ignorance, especially among the general public on how to manage fire incidents and administer first aid to burns victims.”

According to him, casualty rates of fire incidents would be considerably low if only the general public had basic knowledge in managing such situations.

[contextly_sidebar id=”CQIItymQWWLVXDD7xUfSmnCMaY1TNhXx”]“Even in our schools, we don’t have any training for burns. Burn awareness should be a part of our curriculum in our education system. There are many who people who pass through our system, but are totally ignorant about burns and first aid. This is something we need to look at, so we do not have a generation that is totally ignorant about burns, first aid and how to prevent domestic fire outbreak,” he said.

“Eighty percent of burns cases are caused by domestic fires. It is therefore important that every Ghanaian has some amount of knowledge on how to deal with fire situations and in administering first aid to burns victims. This would help complement the efforts of medical professionals in ensuring that burn victims sustain minimal injuries as possible.”

His comments follow Saturday’s gas explosion at Atomic junction in Accra, in which 7 persons died, and some 132 others sustained various degrees of injury.

Many of the injured were traumatized because they were oblivious of the next line of action in the wake of the unfortunate incident, resulting in a stampede.

The surgeon said for instance, people should know that they have “to lay on the ground and roll when their clothes catch fire because if you run, you’re rather fanning the flames.”

Dr. Ampomah further noted that, many buildings across the country are improperly constructed to facilitate the easy tackling of fire incidents, as many buildings even lack smoke detectors which “do not cost much.”

Lack of co-ordination in emergency response

Dr. Ampomah further expressed his disappointment at emergency response in the country, stating that delays in such responses are due to the lack of co-ordination between appropriate agencies.

“When these disasters occur, there is no proper co-ordination between those who have the expertise to provide care for the patients, and those at the emergency service front…We need a proper national center for burns. Existing centers to manage burn victims is ill-equipped with majority of the staff having very little knowledge in taking care of fire systems.”

He said as a country “We need to get a proper national center for burns… What we are doing now is making do with what we have, but in terms of international standards, we are not there yet.”

Dr. Ampomah however noted that that in collaboration with the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation, plans are underway to establish Intensive Care Centers for the country.

“For the first time in the country’s history, through international funding, a batch of nurses have been specially trained to handle burn victims. The training was the initiative of the Reconstructive Plastic Surgery and Burns Centre (RPS&BC) at the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital.”

The surgeon further charged government to invest more in centers designated to deal with burns, to increase their capacity because “the siting of a lot of filling stations and gas stations are disasters waiting to happen.”

–

By: Marie-Franz Fordjoe/citifmonline/Ghana

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A United States-based Chemical Engineer, Dr. Michael Gyamerah, has accused the Land Valuation Division of the Lands Commission of colluding with some chiefs in the Volta Region to dupe the government of millions of cedis.

Dr. Gyamerah, Associ­ate Professor who gave the mind-blowing testimony yesterday at the Commis­sion of Enquiry investigat­ing the payment of judge­ment debts, said his research had revealed that a whopping 15 million Ghana cedis might have been lost in the compensation claim by the chiefs in the areas flooded by the Volta River.

He told Sole-Commissioner Justice Yaw Apau of the Court of Appeal that the chiefs formed an Asso­ciation of VR Flooded Lands Compensation Claimants’ chaired by Krachiwura Nana Mprah Besemuna III, and through the association, about 9 million Ghana cedis had already been disbursed.

He said he sighted a letter written by the chiefs and endorsed by the Land Valuation Division where the Lands Commission was to facilitate the release of the funds which came in tranches and were slashed.

Dr. Gyamerah said the ‘facilitation’ in the letter to ensure ‘early, expeditious and timely’ release of the funds was a classic case of bribery adding, “It was an orchestrated attempt by the Lands Commission and those involved to defraud the state.”

He said the association was formed ostensibly to serve as a conduit to siphon 15% of over 130 million Ghana cedis, which was the ‘full and final set­tlement of compensation claims for lands compulso­rily acquired and were flooded as a result of the construction of the Ako- sombo Hydro Electric Dam.’

“The payment made to a ‘VL Reimbursable Fund’ under the control of the Association of VR Flooded Lands Compensation Claimants constituted 15% of compensation money meant for fellow citizens of Ghana, impoverished as a result of losing their land and property following the construction of the dam,” Dr. Gyamerah noted.

The witness said that his research revealed that the chiefs of Pai Traditional Area, led by one Nana Diawuo Bediako II – who he said is known in private life as Atta Kwasi – report­edly ‘connived’ with a firm called Kwadwo Ababio & Co to submit fake docu­ments to push for the pay­ments.

“Apparently, the Land Valuation Division of the Lands Commission did not research the Pai Traditional Area; and either inadver­tently or through gross negligence, aided and abet­ted the payment of large sums of Ghana’s taxpayer’s money to the Association of VR Flooded Lands Com­pensation Claimants,” he pointed out.

He said the recipients of the claims squandered the huge sums, even though the Pai traditional authorities clearly indicat­ed that the funds were not for their personal use say­ing.

Dr. Gyamerah said communities including Pai, Apaso, Otiso and Supon deserved compensation.

In the case of Otiso, he said his research showed that the Land Valuation Division failed to research the tradition of the town and through gross negli­gence, aided and abetted the payment of over GHc 280,000 to an Otiso chief who was not entitled to it but falsely claimed that stool lands were his personal property.

He added that in the case of Pai, only four peo­ple, including his own brother called Bob Kwame, were claiming compensa­tion for the whole area.

He said there was doc­umentary evidence that 60% of the first tranche payment was made to the Surveyor (Kwadwo Ababio & Co) as consultation fee, although the attached spreadsheet showed that a 10% valuation fee based on the total compensation, was to be paid to the Sur­veyor adding, “the Survey­or’s fee alone, based on the total compensation, will amount to GHC 13,833,606.80.”

He said documents showing signatures of Nana Diawuo Bediako II, representing Pai Tradition­al Area were completely different from that on the Land Valuation Board Pay Voucher and the letter from JSA Corporate & Legal Consult to the Executive Secretary of Lands Valua­tion Board, stating that 60% of the-first tranche compen­sation payment be made to the Surveyor.

He said the direct result of those compensation pay­ment claims spearheaded by the Krachiwura, had increased tension and liti­gation in the Pai area, espe­cially Pai and Otiso.

“It should be obvious that compensation money paid to individuals who lied to the government, despite protestations of people of the area affected, will eventually end up causing the GoG financial loss when legal action is brought against it. There­fore, the good people of Ghana should demand an investigation of this self- appointed group, and the Land Valuation Division of the Lands Commission,” he urged.

Source: Daily Graphic

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He noted that Ghanaians have allowed politics to interfere with efforts to rid the nation of galamsey activities and that must end.

Justice Apau made the remarks at the Commission’s sitting in Accra, when Dr Toni Aubynn, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Minerals Commission, appeared before it to present accounts of outstanding claims against the institution.

Dr Aubynn said the Minerals Commission is the constitutionally mandated body in Ghana responsible for the regulation and management of the utilization of the mineral resources.

He said the Commission also issues licenses to mining, sand winning, and quarrying companies, and also ensures compliance with Ghana’s mining and mineral laws and regulation through monitoring.

He said the Commission grants license to small-scale miners, adding that those miners however indulge in galamsey activities or operate  illegally outside their areas of concession sometimes.

Justice Apau enquired from the CEO the difference between the Minerals Commission and the Chamber of Mines.

In response, the CEO explained that the Chamber of Mines is the main industry association in Ghana, declaring that the Chamber represents the collective interests of companies involved in mineral exploration in Ghana.

The Sole Commissioner further asked Dr Aubynn of the origin of the word “galamsey”.

The CEO observed that galamsey is a corrupted word which means “gather and sell in defiance of authority.”

Dr. Aubynn recounted that during national elections period, parliamentary candidates of opposition parties often promise galamsey operators that they will legalize it once they come to power, only to win votes.

He advised politicians to desist from such acts, adding that “I always tell the parliamentarians that we have to solve the issue together now, or face it forever.”

Other state institutions that appeared at the sitting to present information on  outstanding claims against them were, the Bank of Ghana, the Bureau of National Investigations(BNI) and the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development.

The Bank of Ghana was represented by Mr Nana Egyapong, Schedule Officer for Government Payments, and Saviour Kudze of the Legal Department.

After seeking for clarification on the terms of reference of the subpoena, they asked for an adjournment.

The Commission has since granted their request and they are to re-appear before it on Wednesday, May 28.

Mr. Sokpo said the Ministry of Education, which was also supposed to appear before it had requested that it be re-scheduled to appear on June 11.

Source: GNA

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