June 3 disaster: Justice for victims has been “agonisingly” slow, says OneGhana Movement

A civil society group, OneGhana Movement has expressed worry over the protracted delays in seeking justice for victims of the 3 June twin disaster, describing it as “agonisingly slow”.

Ghana experienced the worst flood disaster with the combination of a fire outbreak at Kwame Nkrumah Circle in Accra on 3 June 2015 that claimed over 150 lives living scores injured.

In 2015,  OneGhana Movement filed a class-action lawsuit against GOIL, the National Petroleum Authority, and the Accra Metropolitan Assembly (AMA) to demand for compensation for the victims.

Speaking to Kwaku Nhyira-Addo on The Asaase Breakfast Show on Friday (3 June), seven years on, a member of the OneGhana Movement Kwesi Keli-Delataa said: “The legal process has been agonisingly slow.”

“We have had a lot of challenges trying to serve the defendants that have been sued. We have tried very hard to serve the MD of GOIL, unfortunately we weren’t successful, he passed on.”

“At the moment we are trying to go through the legal processes required to serve the administrators or the administrator of the state. I am sure that all the other legal processes in court will continue,” he added.

Statement on the seventh anniversary

JUSTICE FOR JUNE 3 SEVEN YEARS ON

It was a rainy and windy night. Just as had been the norm, the Goil Filling Station at Circle and many other filling stations across the country provided temporary shelter for commuters who are usually caught up by rains while in transit to or from work. The night of June 3, 2015, was not an exception.

But an avoidable disaster struck when floodwaters, fire and fuel merged to cause a great inferno, which left at least 154 dead and more than 200 injured and 2500 affected. For some, this may sound like a ritual recall of statistics, but it is not. These are the real lives of fathers, mothers, wives, husbands, brothers, sisters, aunties, uncles, children, old and young that were affected by the tragedy.

As expected, authorities rushed to the scene the following day with the “usual” promises to bring perpetrators to book. Seven years on, no one has been held accountable for this avoidable disaster. The government of the day and the government today have all but paid lip service to justice, accountability, and commensurate compensation for victims.

The disaster of June 3, 2015, was not an Act of God. They were the combined consequence of bad governance and corporate negligence on the part of politicians and public office holders who owed the people of Ghana a duty of care.

The OneGhana Movement has since 2017 been pursuing justice for the victims and people of Ghana. The Movement and the victims, through our lawyers Samson Lardy Anyenini and Keli Kwesi Delataa (both working pro bono for this cause) commenced a class action lawsuit in 2018, pursuing GOIL, the National Petroleum Authority (NPA) and the Accra Metropolitan Assembly (AMA) for their complicity in the disaster.

It is our hope that the pursuit of justice will not only result in fair compensations for victims and their families but will, in the end, punish officials found culpable, and drive the sense of accountability and responsibility on the part of citizens, corporate Ghana, and public officials.

Avoidable disasters will not stop when no one is punished for their negligence and dereliction of duty. On June 3, we said “never again” and yet again there was the La gas explosion, the Atomic explosion, Takoradi explosion and more. We certainly cannot go on like this as a country!

Seven years on, we remind the government and the judiciary that justice delayed for the lives affected is justice denied and a failing of the duty of care owed to our fellow citizenry.

May God continue to keep and protect the affected persons and their families.

June 3 disaster 

In the early evening of June 3, 2015 there was a rainfall in Accra that lasted some few hours. The rain, which started as any normal rainfall was intense, affecting most parts of Accra but wrecking a heavy toll at the Kwame Nkrumah Circle and its environs.

As pictures of the havoc began to show on television, the entire nation was thrown into a state of shock and mourning when it emerged that the flood had forced the release of fuel (petrol) onto the surface of the flood water and thereby starting a huge fire.

This incident is commonly referred to as “THE TWIN DISASTER”, because for many people it is still unexplained and a mystery for fire to burn on top of water.

On that faithful Wednesday at about 1830Hours a period considered as the “rush hour” when most workers were making their way back home, a bright weather gave way to gloomy and dark rain clouds which in no time resulted in a heavy down pour.

Quite naturally, people begun to take refuge at locations they deemed safe and secure. Little did it occur to some of these people that they were only “ jumping from frying pan to fire” when they decided to take shelter at a Goil filling station near the GCB tower at the Kwame Nkrumah Circle.

The intensity of the rains coupled with poor and choked drainage system, low lying nature of the area, and indiscriminate citing of structures resulted in the flooding. One eye witness who was watching from the second floor of a story building said, the flood waters at the filling station and its surrounding areas was not only about four feet high above ground level, but also smelt of fuel.

“In no time, I saw a flame of fire rushing from a particular direction and spreading quickly across the entire area within a matter of seconds” he recounted. Neither persons taking shelter, vehicles parked at the fuel station nor staff of the station was able to escape from the fire.

At the end of the day, which moved through the stages of firefighting and rescue, search and rescue, and search and recover, 154 people were reported dead, making it the worst disaster to have ever hit Ghana.

JUSTICE FOR JUNE 3RD VICTIMS – J4J3 CAMPAIGN

On 2nd June 2017, two years after the disaster; the OneGhana Movement, in accordance with its citizen responsibility and policy accountability objectives, launched the “Justice 4 June 3 (J4J3)” Campaign, to pursue justice for victims of the June 3 avoidable disaster. The major objectives of this “Justice 4 June 3 project” are to secure equitable compensation for victims, and to hold corporations, public officials and institutions accountable for their actions and inactions.

The victims and the OneGhana Movement have since through their lawyers, (Darko, Keli-Delataa & Co.) and (A-Partners @ Law), commenced a class action suit against Ghana Oil (GOIL), National Petroleum Authority (NPA) and the Accra Metropolitan Authority (AMA) for their complicity in the disaster.

Fred Dzakpata

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