Ignorance + greed = disaster

As a Christian, I should be the last person to pity the Devil, but as I watched the story being told of the explosion of a Tanker Truck that resulted in the death of about seven people, I felt pity for the Devil because some people will be attributing the disaster to him.

How can people rush towards a tanker filled with fuel and attempt to open the tank cover or caps so they can siphon fuel? In the first place, that action is criminal and it also smacks of ignorance and greed. Ignorance in the sense that all it takes is a little spark and the whole tank filled with fuel will explode, and in attempting to forcibly open the caps, this is likely to occur.

Similar incidents have occurred in the past and so these people who rushed to get free fuel ought to have known that they were risking their lives. Greed is what will motivate people to take fuel from a tanker, free of charge, which is stealing.

This unfortunate and needless death brings to mind the Appiate explosion disaster, which some people in the area witnessed. The vehicle caught fire after a collision with what is locally known as Abobo Yaa. Mostly due to ignorance, instead of running away as quickly as possible to put a wide distance between them and the explosives, they were rather drawing closer to the danger.

Some were using their cameras to film the scene until there was a blinding flash accompanied by a loud explosion, leaving a trail of death, injuries, and destruction of property in its wake.

The warning of the driver to the nearest village that they should quickly run away into the bush fell on deaf ears. That is the price of ignorance, as someone said, “if you think education is expensive, try ignorance.”

The role of a state institution like the National Commission on Civic Education (NCCE) is quite essential and must be resourced to deliver on their mandate.

If the people in Appiate and the surrounding towns and villages were aware that they should move away to a distance of at least 500 metres, they would not have suffered the deaths and injuries they sustained.

There must be a very deliberate effort to adequately resource the NCCE to embark on educational drives geared towards changing the mindset of the people. If the majority of the people begin to cherish values of honesty, integrity, cleanliness, etc., the moral compass of this nation would point in the right direction for a morally upright society to be created, which is a necessary characteristic for developed countries.

This attitude of greediness is not a new thing. It has existed for a long time. Those days when the main Accra – Kumasi Highway used to branch off at Apedwa junction to pass through Potrase, then through Kyebi, and then through Bunso Junction, there were a lot of accidents involving articulated trucks at Potrase.

If it happened at night, by morning a sizeable amount of the goods could not be accounted for. The ‘owners’ would have carted them off during the night. This was a practice that continued until the road was diverted to the current location, without passing through Potrase. But for some strange coincidence, I never heard of an incident involving the falling down of a fuel truck in that village.

A mindset of greediness ignores negative consequences that can result from certain actions, and when this is coupled with ignorance, then you have an explosive mixture ready to go.

May God have mercy on us. God bless.

NB: ‘CHANGE KOTOKA INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT TO KOFI BAAKO INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT’

BY LAUD KISSI-MENSAH

Join our WhatsApp Channel now!
https://whatsapp.com/channel/0029VbBElzjInlqHhl1aTU27