Indiscipline, the bane of a nation’s development
ON Saturday, October 7, 2017, a gas explosion hit a part of Accra and claimed seven lives. Three died immediately while four died on admission in hospital. Many others are still in hospital receiving treatment from burns and other related injuries.
One thing most noticeable in Ghana’s capital and most urban towns are gasoline stations and liquefied natural gas (lng) depots.
On a stretch of one mile in Accra as many as six such installations can be found. They are sited indiscriminately, an indication of a break-down in discipline as well as institutional failure. Town planning and environmental laws are all flouted with impunity.
The former minister of Environment Mahama Ayariga in an interview stated that efforts to regulate the siting of gasoline stations were thwarted by big men in government. It was an admission that those in authority are themselves part of the problem making any solutions hard to attain. This happens in all areas of endeavor and the repercussions are vast and heinous.
Amandla investigated the case of a gasoline station sited between two dwelling houses and a food processing factory that went nowhere. Not even the representations to the sector minister and the Environmental Protections Agency were heeded.
A similar explosion at the Kwame Nkrumah Circle a couple of years ago that resulted in the death of more than 200 people obviously did not register as something to learn from. Once bitten, twice shy, they say. We mourn with the families who lost loved ones and hope measures and regulations available would be observed and measures taken this time would either prevent or minimize those occurrences. We appreciate the government’s efforts at root- ing out corruption and indiscipline at all levels and hope Ghanaians would rally behind it.
As the president used to say in his campaigns, Amandla believes “Ghana will work again.”