Government abandons us – June 3 disaster victims

Victims of the fire cum floods disaster that shocked Ghana in mid 2015 have complained bitterly about the government’s neglect.

According to the group claiming to be over 100, their incessant calls on the government to pay them compensation have fallen on deaf ears.

June 3 twin disaster or the ‘Black Wednesday’ as it has come to be known, were the result of heavy rains which started on June 2, causing intense flooding at the Kwame Nkrumah Circle, Accra.

Some pedestrians who sought shelter at the GOIL fuel station at the Kwame Nkrumah Circle during the rains lost their lives when fire broke out at the station. Survivors were severely burnt.

Some businesses and houses located around the fuel station were also destroyed by the fire which claimed over 150 lives, destroying property worth millions of cedis.

Some of the victims who visited DAILY GUIDE yesterday narrated the harrowing experiences they had been going through at the hands of some government officials, particularly at the Accra Metropolitan Assembly in their pursuit for compensation.

They claimed the government paid GH¢10,000 each to about 100 of the families of victims who did not survive the disaster and also paid a similar amount to 15 of those who survived but had neglected the rest.

They said during the commemoration of the first anniversary of the disaster, the government created the impression as if it had sorted out all the victims, which was contrary to the reality.

According to them, the AMA Boss Alfred Okoe Vanderpuije organized them to the premises of the Holy Spirit Cathedral in Accra during the commemoration ceremony and told them that the payments were ongoing before serving them food and leaving them to their fate.

“The following week, we started receiving phone calls from the AMA to come to their office and when we got there they told us to wait for them for some weeks but that too never worked.”

They claimed that since there was no result coming from the AMA, they decided to pursue it further but anytime they went forward, they were ‘harassed’ by the officials over there.