The Ministry of Defence says the Ghana Armed Forces (GAF) is indeminified from paying compensation to any civilian who dies or gets injured as a result of using any of their equipment.
This was disclosed by Group Captain Mike Kwame Appiah-Agyekum, Administrator of the Ministry, who appeared before the Judgment Debt Commission on Thursday over an issue involving one Victor Adu Nyarko who died in a military helicopter crash.
Nyarko, a nurse working at the Holy Family Hospital at Nkawkaw in the Eastern Region died in the helicopter crash in the Atiwa Forest in 2002, while accompanying some military personnel who were involved in a road accident to the 37 Military Hospital.
Other military personnel on board the helicopter also died but their families received compensation from the GAF, leaving the civilian nurse.
A private lawyer however sued the government and received compensation of GH₵15,000.00 for the family of Nyarko.
Group Captain Appiah-Agyekum explained that the civilian nurse was excluded from the payment of the compensation by GAF because of the indemnity clause.
He said before any civilian boarded any vehicle belonging to GAF, he was made to fill the indemnity form, which absolved GAF from paying any compensation in case of any accident, and that the case of Nayrko was no exception.
Brigadier General John Bosco Guyiri, Acting Chief Fire Officer of Ghana National Fire Service, also appeared before the Commission in connection with a case involving uniforms for the service which led to the payment of judgment debt.
He told the Commission that during the tender process, the Service indicated the quantity of the uniforms required.
He said in awarding the contract however, a term ‘pieces’ instead of ‘quantity’ was used and when litigation later arose over the contract, the supplier used the term ‘pieces’ in court to mean double instead of ‘pair’, and the court awarded an amount of GH₵1 million to the supplier.
He said the Service had to glean its various accounts before it was able to pay the award, as an appeal against the court decision failed.
Credit: GNA
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