‘Blame Batabi church building collapse on institutional failure’ – Committee report

Institutional failure and poor workmanship have been cited as the main causes for the collapse of the auditorium of the Church of Prosperity at Akyem Batabi in the Eastern Region of Ghana.

According to an executive summary of the report which was read on Angel FM’s Anopa Bofo on Tuesday, these two main issues led to the collapse of the four-storey building which construction began in the year 2000.

The executive summary of the report continues that the founder of the church secured the permit for the building from the then Birim Central Municipal Assembly for a one-storey building.

However, the plan changed to a four-storey building complex with the Prophet’s residence on top.

Twenty-two congregants of the popular church died while eight others sustained varied degrees of injuries following the collapse of the building.

One church member who was in the building at the time of the incident cannot be traced with the report indicating that the person could have died in the collapse.

Rescue workers worked for days to try to save persons trapped in the collapse but the lack of logistics could not help save the situation.

The Executive Summary, however, blames the collapse of the lack of supervision and poor workmanship.

The report further noted that the artisans who worked on the building did not follow the required procedures.