The more this Melcom disaster is discussed, the faster sadness gives way to anger.
A six storey departmental store building, built with such alacrity lies on the floor. Collapsed. Caved in. Earthquake? No! Sandy? Isaac? Katrina? No! Just regular air - oxygen! A regular day in a sunny African country. One of the biggest departmental stores in the capital with God knows how many employees and "visitors" if not shoppers, trapped in the debris of a collapsed building.
Now for two days, a nation sits on tenterhooks, watching images of people being rescued, praying that the others are rescued on time before more lives are lost, nobody certain of the numbers of the people who were in the building.
A shameful preventable calamity.
Thank God for Israel (let nobody tell me about opportunistic foreign aid or any other political talk like that when lives are at stake), private companies like Engineers and planners and the citizenry who are working as volunteers, all assisting with the rescue.
Now between the company, the owner of the building, the architect and the Accra Municipal Authority (AMA), we hear people scuffling about playing the blame game - "it was caused by a structural failure", "they didn't have a permit", "AMA did not assign a building inspector", "we only rented the building", "the concrete mix was not to the specification we require" ...
AMA boss says he'll resign if his outfit is found culpable. A six story building lies on the ground - there's still an "IF" ??
There are reports three people have already been picked up - two from the company and one from the AMA - GOOD!!!
Heads must roll! We chant not because we're just eager for someone to assuage the hurt (even though that is perfectly legitimate), we chant because this must not happen again !!
