Ghana government orders DNA test for all unrecognized bodies in Accra fire and flood
President John Dramani Mahama on Wednesday said government had given an authorization for DNA test to be conducted on bodies of the June 3, twin-tragedy victims that have not been identified.
He said it was only after that conduct that charred bodies that were beyond recognition could be identified for the necessary procedures to follow.
President Mahama announced this during a memorial service held in honour of the over 150 people who lost their lives in last week’s floods and fire disaster in the Greater-Accra Region.
The service also marked the end of the three-day national mourning declared by the President last week.
The programme was also attended by Vice President Paa Kwesi Bekoe Amissah-Arthur, former Presidents Jerry John Rawlings and John Agyekum Kufuor, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, and Muhamudu Bawumia, Presidential and Vice Presidential candidates of the New Patriotic Party respectively.
Also in attendance were Edward Doe-Adjaho, Speaker of Parliament, Mrs Georgina Theodora Wood, Chief Justice, Ministers of State, the Clergy from all faiths, Members of Parliament and some families of the deceased.
President Mahama appealed to people who have not heard from their loved ones, especially those living in Accra since the disaster to visit the Korle-Bu, Police and 37 Military hospitals to check the list of injured or those who died in the inferno or the flood.
He said while the Senegalese government had supported Ghana with $150,000, Government of Ghana had set aside GH¢50 million for the purchase of relief items for the displaced persons in last Wednesday’s disaster.
President Mahama reminded Ghanaians against blame games in the wake of the disasters, a situation he added would not solve the problems on the ground.
“We do not need to expend our energies on what the past governments did not do, but to channel our energies towards supporting the current government to put in place workable measures,” he said.
He commended the security agencies and the medical staff for working around the clock to save more lives in the disasters.
In a sermon, Reverend Eastwood Anaba, Founder of the Fountain Gate Chapel, said in the midst of grief as a result of disaster, one could only take solace in the word of God.
He said Ghana could rise and forge ahead irrespective of the current calamities; a situation he said should be fought devoid of political party, social status, ethnic or religious backgrounds.
Rev. Anaba urged Politicians and Technocrats to use the disaster as a springboard on which more strategies would be drawn to avoid the recurrence of such mishaps in future.
“Weeping at this stage would not revive lives and solve the problems, but to develop positive actions that would throw the accidents into the dustbin of history,” he said.
He urged government and partners to put in place measures that would encourage families of the deceased, by going beyond the memorial service, to support their families to be comfortable in society
Source: GNA