Kintampo Waterfall accident: Residents use fallen tree for rituals

Some residents of Kintampo in the Brong Ahafo Region are cutting parts of the tree that fell and killed several students when they embark on an excursion to the area, for ritual purposes.

According to Accra News’ Salami Awudu (Yoda) who recently visited the area, the residents believed that the tree had supernatural abilities and were of the belief that it could miraculously enrich them.

Meanwhile, the Minister of Tourism, Culture and Creative Arts, Catherine Afeku, has said that a report on the Kintampo disaster that claimed 19 lives “concluded that although this was an act of God, a number of remote and immediate causes were identified as being instrumental to the accident”.

She said this on Tuesday, June 6 when she appeared before parliament to explain safety measures instituted at the facility and other tourist sites across the country.

It would be recalled that the Speaker of Parliament, Rev Prof Mike Oquaye, directed the appropriate parliamentary committees to carry out an investigation into the Kintampo Waterfall disaster that claimed about 19 lives and injured dozens of students who had gone to the facility for an excursion at the facility on Sunday, March 19, 2017.

The Member of Parliament (MP) for Evalue Ajomoro-Gwira, also cited “a lack of focus on public safety responsibility, a lack of adequate training and supervision of personnel, poor environmental management factors, and impact of encroachers on the area which has exposed the soil to major erosion and made trees weak and vulnerable” as factors that led to the unfortunate incident.

She added that implementation of the recommendations by the committee set up to investigate the matter is being implemented and the facility will be ready for use by September 1, 2017.

According to her, other tourist sites across the country are also undergoing security upgrade to ensure that no unfortunate incidents occur in the future.