Vice President Professor Naana Jane Opoku-Agyemang has urged for rigorous adherence to building norms and increased accountability following the collapse of a building at Avenor in North Kaneshie, near Melcom Plus.
She made the remarks on Sunday, June 7, after visiting the scene of the disaster, where two people are still trapped beneath the debris while rescue efforts are ongoing and one person has been declared dead.
Speaking to a journalist, she emphasised that if stakeholders constantly act morally and adhere to existing regulations and safety standards, many similar events can be avoided.
Although regulations may not always be popular, she pointed out that they are necessary for safety and order and that their non-enforcement frequently results in preventable disasters.
“There are many things we can all prevent, and it is about doing the right things, we know them. We don’t need to wait. As we are standing here, we are being told that somebody is trapped in there. Why should this happen?
“So please, all I am saying is that let us abide by the rules. I said only yesterday or so that rules may not always make sense, and nobody likes them, but we need rules. Otherwise, nothing will function” she stated.
The Vice President also encouraged all accountable parties to fully cooperate with accountability procedures and demanded in-depth investigations into the collapse.
“And we need to do proper investigation. We must all open ourselves to be held to account. It’s all of us. This really maybe needn’t have happened. But what could we have done? What do we do to ensure that going forward, we are not seeing many like these? We all know the right things to do. Let us make them possible” she added.
She maintained that collective responsibility is essential to protecting lives and property and underlined the need to learn from the experience in order to stop similar incidents in the future.
Source: newsthemegh.com