Member of Parliament for Kintampo North, Kwasi Etu-Bonde has given his word on the safety of the Kintampo Waterfalls following the disaster which claimed the lives of twenty persons and injured twenty-one on 19th March 2017.

Addressing the level of development of the Kintampo Waterfalls and its environs on the floor of parliament, the MP noted that there has been a massive renovation of the entire area based on the recommendation of the Committee on Trade, Industry and Tourism which was put together to probe the cause of the incident.

“A lot of work has been done because of the committee’s recommendation they gave to the team that was on site. A typical example is the creation of a fire belt….as we speak, the community in conjunction with Ghana Tourism Authority have started a lot of tree planting exercise to control the forest around Kintampo waterfall, so that fire cannot enter the place as it happened”.

In what he described as a good job done by the committee, he further listed some work done to enhance the renowned tour site, as a way of curbing any such occurrences in the future and lauded the Minister in charge for providing a walkway which was not initially included in the committee’s recommendations as well as a revenue appropriation method.

He mentioned that the committee had “put in place well-trained tour guides who also act as rapid safety response team…”



Background

On Sunday, 19th March 2017, a tragedy at the Kintampo Waterfalls in the Brong Ahafo Region resulted in the loss of lives of twenty persons and the injury of twenty-one persons.

The persons involved were mostly students from the Wenchi Senior High School and the University of Energy and Natural Resources who had gone on an educational tour.

The site was closed down for renovation following the incident but was reopened in October 2018 after the first phase of the renovation was completed.