By Dennis Peprah
Sunyani, (Bono), Aug. 15, GNA – Some mourners, including traders at the Sunyani Central Business District (CBD) enclave have urged the government to erect monuments in memory of the recent military helicopter crash, as the nation pay its last respect to the eight victims.
They said the monuments ought to be erected at strategic locations of either the forecourt of the Defence Ministry, the Kotoka International Airport or the State House, to serve as a memorial to the eight patriots.
The late Dr Edward Omane Boamah, the Minister for Defence, and Ibrahim Murtala Muhammed, Minister for Environment, Science, Technology and Innovation and together with six others died in the fatal crash which occurred at the Adansi Akrofuom District of the Ashanti Region Wednesday August 6, 2025.
An interdenominational funeral service is currently underway at the Independence Square for the victims which would be followed by the burial service for the deceased, Dr Boamah, Squadron Leader Peter Anala, and Flying Officer Manean Twum Ampadu and Sergeant Ernest Addo Mensah at the Military Cemetery.
The rest were the late Samuel Aboagye, former parliamentary candidate for Obuasi East and Samuel Saprong, a Vice Chairman of the National Democratic Congress (NDC).
As required by the Islam the late Muhammed and the late Alhaji Limuna Muniru Mohammed, the Acting Deputy National Security Coordinator were buried on August 10.
In an interview with the Ghana News Agency (GNA) in Sunyani, the mourners said they were still shocked and saddened by the crash, describing the victims as true patriots.
“In fact, we need a monument in honour of them because they were imbued with a sense of nationalism and love for nation,” Mr Stephen Ayensu, a teacher stated.
Describing the eight victims as “heros of the state,” he said the “monuments will also be a tourist destination site”.
Madam Lucy Adomah, a trader at the Sunyani CBD who described herself as a ‘chief mourner’ told the GNA that the nation ought to develop the site of the helicopter crash and erect the monuments there to serve as a memorial and a tourist attraction site.
“This is a tragedy we will hardly forget in our socio-political history, and we must do something at the scene of the incident to serve as a memorial to the unborn generation,” she stated, and called on the government to investigate and make the findings of the crash public.
In his view, Mr Kofi Emmanuel, a taxi driver who uses the Sunyani-Abesim stretch said “venerating the dead is part of our culture and tradition and we must erect the monuments regardless of the cost involved”.
He said that would make the departed souls happy in their graves.
GNA
Edited by Dennis Peprah/ Christabel Addo