Accra, Aug. 8, GNA – Mr Adib Saani, Executive Director of the Jatikay Centre for Human Security and Peace Building, has called for military aviation safety to be treated as a national security priority.
He said this would help safeguard critical state officials and strengthen continuity of government, particularly as military aircraft were used to transport senior government and security officials.
Mr Saani, also a Security Analyst, made the call in an interview with the Ghana News Agency as the country marked the August 6, 2026, military helicopter crash at Adansi Akrofuom in the Ashanti Region.
He said military aircraft frequently transported the President, Ministers, Members of Parliament, security officials and senior commanders of the Ghana Armed Forces, making aircraft airworthiness, maintenance and operational risk assessment matters of national security.
The Ghana Armed Forces Z-9EH military helicopter departed Accra at 0912 hours for Obuasi before crashing in the general area of Siaman near Adansi Akrofuom.
Eight people died in the crash, including Dr Edward Kofi Omane Boamah, Defence Minister; Alhaji Dr Ibrahim Murtala Mohammed, Minister of Environment, Science, Technology and Innovation; Alhaji Muniru Mohammed, Acting Deputy National Security Coordinator; Dr Samuel Sarpong, former Ashanti Regional Minister and NDC Vice Chairman; and Mr Samuel Aboagye, a former Parliamentary Candidate.
Three Ghana Air Force personnel – Squadron Leader Peter Baafemi Anala, Flying Officer Manaen Twum Ampadu and Sergeant Ernest Addo Mensah – also died.
President John Dramani Mahama subsequently established an Investigative Board of Inquiry to determine the cause of the accident, with flight-data and cockpit-voice recorders retrieved as part of the investigation.
The investigation attributed the accident to a sudden loss of altitude and lift caused by a downdraft associated with changing environmental conditions over high terrain.
Mr Saani said the tragedy provided an opportunity to review aviation safety protocols and introduce measures to reduce avoidable risks.
He said one key lesson was the need to avoid concentrating too many strategically important government officials in a single aircraft.
Mr Saani said the simultaneous loss of ministers, senior security officials and other critical personnel could have implications beyond the immediate loss of lives and affect the continuity of government.
He urged the Government to review protocols governing the movement of ministers, senior national security officials and other mission-essential personnel, particularly during major national events when demand for air travel was high.
“In some circumstances, mission-essential officials should be separated across aircrafts or movements,” he said.
Mr Saani called for stronger collaboration among the Ghana Airports Company Limited, security agencies and the Ghana Meteorological Agency to improve weather intelligence and support flight-risk assessments.
He said missions involving difficult terrain and rapidly changing weather conditions should have
clear guidelines for postponing, rerouting or aborting flights when necessary.
Mr Saani also called for an institutional culture that empowered pilots to exercise professional judgement and decline or discontinue missions they considered unsafe without political or personal pressure.
“When a pilot says, ‘Look, I think this is it, so I can’t go,’ the commander somewhere should not tell him to go,” he said.
He said such discretion was particularly important during peacetime operations.
The Security Analyst also called for an assessment of the age, capability and suitability of Ghana’s military aviation fleet for the missions being undertaken.
He said modernisation should ensure that aircraft had appropriate avionics, terrain-awareness systems, navigation technology, weather-detection capabilities and other safety systems suited to their operational environments.
Mr Saani, however, cautioned that acquiring newer aircraft alone would not resolve aviation safety concerns.
He called for rigorous preventive maintenance, dependable spare-parts supply chains, appropriately trained engineers, proper maintenance documentation and independent compliance checks.
He said weaknesses in documentation and compliance systems could undermine aviation safety even when relatively modern aircraft were available.
On the findings of investigations into the crash, Mr Saani said their value ultimately depended on implementation of the recommendations.
He said national-security considerations could limit the amount of information made public, but the principal findings and recommendations should be communicated to the public where possible.
“An accident investigation has little value if its recommendations disappear in the archives and they gather dust,” he said.
Mr Saani urged relevant institutions to ensure that lessons from the August 6 tragedy translated into concrete improvements in Ghana’s military aviation safety systems.
He expressed condolences to the families of the eight victims, describing the death of Alhaji Murtala Mohammed, whom he described as more than a friend and a “big brother,” as particularly painful.
Mr Saani said the tragedy had left him in shock when he first heard reports of the crash, adding that his security training initially made him reluctant to accept unconfirmed reports about the identities of those involved.
He urged the nation to continue to remember the victims and support their families.
GNA
Edited by Kenneth Sackey
Reporter: Eric Appah Marfo