Gov't sets Committee to probe canopy walkway collapse
The Eastern Regional Coordinating Council has set up a five-member Committee of Enquiry to look into the collapsed Bonsu Arboretum Canopy Walkway.
The Committee comprises the Deputy Regional Police Commander, A.C.P James Abass Abaah as its chairman and Sarpong Boakye Yiadom of the R.C.C. as secretary. Other members are the Regional Fire Officer, A.C.F.O. P.K. Donkor, Alfred Agyemang of N.A.D.M.O and Bertha Appeynarh of the Ghana Tourism Board.
Inaugurating the committee, the Regional Minister, Antwi-Boasiako Sekyere told the members that they were carefully selected based on their expertise and it is expected of them to complete the task within two weeks.
Safety recommendations
He outlined their terms of reference as investigating the cause of the near-fatal accident, in which 20 visitors fell off the canopy on Republic Day, July 1, 2015.
The Committee are also to recommend operations and safety measures to be put in place for the facility, and raise any other issue of interest on the public use of the facility.
The Minister assured the public that the Committee’s work will not in any way interfere in the ongoing police investigations into the incident.
More than 20 visitors were injured when they fell off from the canopy walkway last week. The management of the facility gave conflicting accounts, including claims that the incident happened because some unauthorized persons sneaked onto the walkway when they had stopped issuing tickets to the people causing overloading on the bridge.
They also claimed that a branch of a tree fell on the bridge forcing it down.
As a result of this, the Minister ordered the closure of the facility for a proper investigation to be conducted, hence the institution of the Committee.