GHANA’S Defence and Environment Ministers, Edward Omane Boamah and Ibrahim Murtala Muhammed, have died in a military helicopter which crashed on Tuesday morning in the Central Ashanti Region.
None of the eight people on board the aircraft, including three crew members, survived.
The helicopter had left Accra at 09:12 am and was heading to Obuasi when it suddenly went off radar.
Announcing the tragedy at a press conference, Julius Debrah, the Chief of Staff to President John Mahama, described the incident as a “national tragedy”.
Other passengers on the ill-fated aircraft include the Deputy National Security Coordinator and former Agriculture Minister, Muniru Mohammed, and Vice-Chairman of the governing National Democratic Congress party, Samuel Sarpong.
The helicopter’s crew were named as Squadron Leader Peter Bafemi Anala, Flying Officer Malin Twum-Ampadu and Sergeant Ernest Addo Mensah.
Earlier on Wednesday, Ghana’s Armed Forces reported losing contact with a Z9 helicopter that was travelling from the capital, Accra, to Obuasi, a mining town in southern Ghana.
The statement noted that three crew members and five passengers were on board the aircraft but did not initially disclose that the ministers were among them.
Trained as a medical doctor, Boamah held several key positions in government, including serving as Communications Minister during President Mahama’s 2012–2017 administration. Before then, he was Deputy Minister for the Environment.
He was leading Ghana’s Defence Ministry at a time when armed groups along the country’s northern border with Burkina Faso were growing increasingly active.
Boamah led a delegation to Ouagadougou in May, as Ghana intensified its diplomatic efforts with Burkina Faso, Mali, and Niger, now governed by military regimes that have distanced themselves from the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) regional bloc.
He was preparing to release a book titled “A Peaceful Man in an African Democracy”, which chronicles the life of former President John Atta Mills, who passed away in 2012.
Meanwhile, President John Mahama cancelled all official engagements for the day and ordered all national flags to be flown at half-staff in honour of the late officials and others who died in the tragedy.
“The president and the government extend their condolences and solidarity to the families of our comrades and soldiers who fell in their service to the nation,” said Mahama’s Chief of Staff, Julius Debrah.
Nanji is an investigative journalist with the ICIR. She has years of experience in reporting and broadcasting human angle stories, gender inequalities, minority stories, and human rights issues. She has documented sexual war crimes in armed conflict, sex for grades in Nigerian Universities, harmful traditional practices and human trafficking.