Bright Simons critiques Ghana Armed Forces’ search, rescue readiness

IMANI Africa’s Honorary Vice President, Bright Simons, has questioned the preparedness of the Ghana Armed Forces to conduct rescue operations in difficult forest terrain. This follows last Wednesday’s military helicopter crash in the Adansi Akrofuom district.

Speaking on JoyNews’ PM Express on Monday, August 12, Simons emphasized the need for Ghana to adhere to global standards for search and rescue missions.

“You have to start by saying, what are the rules that are established globally in this country? And I’m saying that for a search and rescue operation, there are response times. There are designated first responders.

“There are rules around trying to make sure you have site containment. There are rules around trying to preserve evidence, preventing unauthorised access. These are all rules that we all saw on TV that were not met.”

Authorities attributed delays in the rescue effort to the challenging forest terrain, but Simons dismissed this as an insufficient excuse.

“Now, the argument is that the terrain was difficult. My response to that is that, of course, the terrain was difficult. Some of the training that the Armed Forces received, or members of the Armed Forces received, is specifically in difficult terrain, because we know, for instance, that in Nigeria, Cote d’Ivoire, in Benin and some of these countries, we’ve seen that bad actors tend to use a masking to prevent easy response.”

He highlighted regional precedents, noting that militaries across West Africa routinely conduct forest operations.

“So in Nigeria, the case with a famous Sambisa forest matter, that is where they were hiding in the forest, if you don’t train your soldiers so they can go into the forest and respond to a situation, then how are you going to do that?”

Simons insisted that forest conditions should not have delayed a swift rescue if the Ghana Armed Forces were adequately trained.

“So when we say that, you know, because the place was a forest area, but I beg to differ, I think that we have soldiers that, if that situation was an insurgency, for instance, we would expect that they respond quicker.”

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President John Mahama has since announced the formation of a high-level Investigative Board of Inquiry to determine the cause of the August 6th crash which claimed eight lives and assuring the public of a “full and transparent investigation.”