New Delhi: Ghana’s defence minister Edward Omane Boamah and setting minister Ibrahim Murtala Muhammed have been amongst eight folks killed in a army helicopter crash on Wednesday, the presidency confirmed. The Ghana Air Drive chopper, carrying three crew members and 5 passengers, went down in a forested space within the southern Ashanti area.
Native tv outlet Pleasure Information aired cellular phone footage from the crash website, exhibiting the wreckage smouldering in thick forest cowl earlier within the day, earlier than the identities of the victims have been confirmed.
Boamah, who took cost of the defence ministry following President John Mahama’s swearing-in in January, died alongside Muhammed, 50, who was serving as minister of setting, science, and know-how. Muhammed had been scheduled to attend the continuing United Nations convention in Geneva centered on negotiating a worldwide treaty to fight plastic air pollution.
In response to native studies, the helicopter had been en path to an occasion associated to unlawful mining, a urgent environmental problem in Ghana, when it crashed. Authorities have confirmed that every one people on board have been killed.
“The president and authorities prolong our condolences and sympathies to the households of our comrades and the servicemen who died in service to the nation,” mentioned Julius Debrah, Chief of Workers to President Mahama.
The Ghana Armed Forces said that an investigation has been launched to find out the reason for the crash involving the Z9 helicopter. Earlier on Wednesday, army officers had reported that the plane went off radar shortly after departing from Accra round 9:00 a.m. native time (0900 GMT). It was headed to the city of Obuasi, situated northwest of the capital.
Among the many others killed within the crash have been Alhaji Muniru Mohammed, Ghana’s deputy nationwide safety coordinator and former agriculture minister, and Samuel Sarpong, vice chairman of the ruling Nationwide Democratic Congress (NDC).
Boamah had been main the defence ministry at a time when Ghana confronted rising considerations over safety alongside its northern border with Burkina Faso, the place jihadist exercise has surged. Though Ghana has not skilled the direct spillover of extremist violence seen in neighbouring Togo and Benin, analysts have warned of accelerating arms trafficking and militant infiltration from the Sahel.
A medical physician by occupation, Boamah beforehand held a number of key authorities roles, together with communications minister throughout Mahama’s 2012–2017 presidency and deputy minister for setting.
Minister Muhammed had been on the forefront of Ghana’s battle in opposition to unlawful gold mining, recognized domestically as “galamsey,” which has severely impacted agricultural land and water sources. The difficulty has considerably affected cocoa manufacturing and was a serious theme throughout the election marketing campaign that introduced Mahama again to energy final 12 months.
This 12 months, Ghana established the Ghana Gold Board and applied a ban on international participation within the native gold commerce, signaling the federal government’s dedication to cracking down on unlawful mining. Muhammed was described as a “dedicated environmentalist” and “deeply revered” by each African and worldwide colleagues, mentioned Inger Andersen, Government Director of the United Nations Atmosphere Programme (UNEP), in a press release from Geneva.
Simply weeks in the past, Muhammed was elected to the African Ministerial Convention on the Atmosphere (AMCEN) in Nairobi.
Condolences have additionally been expressed by leaders of the African Union and ECOWAS.
Boamah had lately led a diplomatic mission to Ouagadougou as Ghana labored to strengthen relations with Burkina Faso, Mali, and Niger, three international locations now dominated by army juntas which have distanced themselves from ECOWAS.
He was additionally getting ready to publish a e-book titled “A Peaceable Man in an African Democracy”, a tribute to former President John Atta Mills, who handed away in 2012.
In response to the tragedy, President Mahama has suspended all official actions for the rest of the week. The presidency additionally declared three days of nationwide mourning starting Thursday, throughout which all flags can be flown at half-mast.