Policy analyst and IMANI Africa Vice President, Bright Simons, has raised serious concerns over Ghana’s search and rescue (SAR) preparedness following the fatal crash of Ghana Air Force helicopter GHF 631, which claimed eight lives — including two ministers of state and senior military officers.
In a detailed analysis on X (formerly Twitter), Simons described a “complete breakdown” of the country’s SAR system after the Z-9EH helicopter went down. He said Ghana’s own SAR manual outlines a clear, multi-agency framework — from automatic distress signals to coordinated emergency response — but “when it mattered most, it failed to function.”
According to Simons, a military aircraft carrying VVIPs should have been equipped with an Emergency Locator Transmitter (ELT) to instantly alert the global Cospas-Sarsat satellite network. This would trigger Ghana’s Rescue Coordination Centre in Accra and mobilise agencies like NADMO, the Ghana Maritime Authority, and emergency medical services. But in this case, he says, “the mechanism… simply failed to fully activate,” leaving the first response to untrained locals and delaying professional rescue teams for hours.
He also questioned why backup systems, including Personal Locator Beacons (PLBs) and the Air Force’s “flight following and tracking” protocol, were not engaged promptly after radar contact was lost. For Simons, this points to a deeper policy gap: Ghana’s failure to strategically position military assets.
Currently, the Air Force operates from bases in Takoradi, Accra, and Tamale, but none in the middle belt — including the crash zone. The Bui Tactical Command, responsible for that area, has no functional aircraft and even unreliable internet. Simons argued that Kumasi’s existing military facilities could host aircraft, paratroopers, and radar to meet Ghana’s one-hour SAR response standard, yet the military is instead building smaller “mini-bases” that may lack critical capabilities.
He further criticised the absence of public oversight on such strategic decisions, noting that political debates dominate national attention while vital policy accountability “has practically no audience.”
As the board of inquiry begins investigating the crash, Simons insists Ghanaians deserve answers not only about the accident but also about why the emergency response systems — designed to save lives — collapsed entirely when needed most.
source: myjoyonline
