Justice must prevail for June 3 disaster victims – Senyo Hosi

A player in the petroleum industry, Senyo Hosi, is calling for justice for the over 150 Ghanaians who lost their lives in the June 3 disaster.
According to him, the victims and their families need justice saying “whoever is responsible must be held accountable.”
“If it was an average person that has caused that incident…he would have been heavily fined or dealt with by law. If it is Goil, it doesn’t matter whether it is a state company or not, justice must prevail. We don’t apply justice because it is or not a state company but justice must be served. If Goil has been cited, I expect them to come out and admit their fault then they should also tell the world what they are doing to compensate everybody adequately,” he argued.

Senyo Hosi, who is also the Chief Executive Officer of the Chamber of Bulk Oil Distributors, made the comments on Eyewitness News on Thursday.
Flooding amidst an explosion at the Goil Fuel Station at the Kwame Nkrumah Circle in Accra, on June 3, 2015, exactly a year today, killed some 150 Ghanaians.
Majority of the deceased persons had taken shelter at the fuel station due to a devastating downpour.

Committee report
A committee was subsequently tasked by government to investigate the matter after which their findings have been submitted to the appropriate authorities.
However not much has been heard about the outcome and what actions would be taken against those found culpable.

The committee attributed the accident to “the dropping of a lit cigarette stub by Seth Kwesi Ofosu on floating fuel” adding that “we are not in the position to determine his [Ofosu’s] actual status so we have handed him to the security agencies to investigate and arrive at a conclusion whether or not he intentionally caused arson.”

Meanwhile, several months after the security agencies took over the case, they are yet to make any official position on the matter.
But Senyo Hosi insisted that whoever is behind the accident should be made to face the full rigorous of the law while steps are taken to compensate victims and their families.
“It’s a year now, my pain has to do with the fact that why what happened, happened. There is no reason why as at now, we should not find those responsible for what has happened and probably taken the right measures to compensate the people who have suffered from this entire tragedy.”

Why hydrocarbons?
He also rejected reports that the flooding caused the death saying “we can’t attribute the cause of the death of the people to the flood. It has to do with hydrocarbons…Hydrocarbons don’t just get displaced from underground tanks if they are well managed…so what has happened means that somebody failed to do his work at the station.”
“…Have we seen the flood kill anybody out of it? How much hydrocarbon was displaced to even get us where we were? Where did the fuel come from?”
He insisted that “when people get through suffering, the least they expect from all of us as a people is the truth. Human beings were burnt like goats and no one finds it urgent that people are given honest information to bring closure to the matter. People like that can’t die just for nothing.”

NPA should have investigated the accident
Senyo Hosi also argued that the National Petroleum Authority (NPA), should have been tasked to investigate the accident instead of the committee that was set up.
“I expect whoever that set up the committee to ensure that this thing is brought to its logical conclusion and the truth and justice must prevail,” he added.

Goil lost 8 workers
Management of the Goil fuel station had earlier disclosed that it lost eight employees in the explosion.
The company also expressed its commitment to partner with other stakeholders to investigate the incident.
“We are fully committed to partnering all stakeholders in all investigations surrounding this disaster,” Goil noted in a statement.

Citifmonline.com