Security consultant and fraud prevention expert Richard Kumadoe has raised serious concerns about Ghana’s readiness to handle national emergencies, describing the country’s preparedness as “poor” and urgently in need of reform.
Speaking on Tinmaalgo Sanga on Bolga FM on Tuesday, 12 August 2025, Mr. Kumadoe said the tragic Z-9 helicopter crash on 6 August 2025 exposed critical weaknesses in the nation’s crisis response systems.
“As a nation, our preparedness for managing national crises and emergencies is bad. It is poor and it lacks merit,” he stated. “When all this is done and settled, we need to look at it again and ask ourselves, why are we not getting it right? Let’s beef it up. Let’s enhance it, so that we operate with some level of readiness.”
Mr. Kumadoe commended the people of Sikakrom, a community near the crash site, for their selfless assistance in the search and recovery efforts despite lacking formal training or safety equipment.
“The villagers helped the Regional Minister and the military find the bodies. At one point, after finding four bodies, some suggested stopping the search. But the minister, alongside a military officer, insisted, ‘We are going nowhere until we find every body, alive or dead.’ The villagers stood with them until all the victims were accounted for,” he recalled.
He stressed that the commitment of the local residents demonstrated the potential benefits of community disaster education and training.
“If you educate the villagers properly, they would have acted even better because they have the will to help. They just want to help their compatriots,” Mr. Kumadoe said, adding that once the military took full charge, “you saw the respect and decency in which the bodies were handled, flown to Accra, and given a ceremony.”
The helicopter crash occurred in the Adansi Akrofuom District of the Ashanti Region, claiming the lives of Defence Minister Dr. Edward Omane Boamah, Environment Minister Dr. Ibrahim Murtala Muhammed, and six others, including military personnel.
Source: A1Radioonline.com|101.1Mhz|Seidu Mutawakil Azangbeogo|Bolgatanga|
