Former Senior Presidential Aide and former Ambassador to the Netherlands, Dr. Tony Aidoo, has described the deaths of eight people in last Wednesday’s helicopter crash as “avoidable.”

The crash, which killed two cabinet ministers and six others, occurred while they were travelling to the launch of a government initiative to end illegal mining, known as galamsey.

Among the dead were Defence Minister Dr. Edward Omane Boamah, former parliamentary candidate Samuel Aboagye, National Democratic Congress (NDC) Vice Chairman Dr. Samuel Sarpong, and three crew members — Squadron Leader Peter Bafemi Anala, Flying Officer Manin Twum-Ampadu, and Sergeant Ernest Addo Mensah.

“To be frank, I had a personal connection with only three of the unfortunate victims… Anytime I remember the departed… usually with teary eyes, but I am not here to eulogise nor to pay another apologetic tribute,” Dr. Aidoo said on Newsfile on Saturday, August 9.

“Mine will be a very tiny voice among the worldwide tributes, lamentations and eulogies that have come following the avoidable, I say avoidable, national tragedy.”

He questioned why the victims were in the air in the first place.

“Why were they in the air? They were in the air because they were going to fight galamsey,” he said. “President Mahama must kill the galamsey menace before it ends his members [of cabinet].”

Rejecting the view that the tragedy was an act of God, Dr. Aidoo stressed: “People will say ‘oh the Lord gave us and the Lord takes’, I say that God did not take, it was we who gave… by our mistake of an avoidable death.”

He added, “God gives, yes, but God does not take innocent lives. People die by their own destruction or by lifestyle.”

He revealed that his first reaction after confirmation of the deaths was to send a message to President Mahama: “These eight patriotic souls lost their lives in the fight against galamsey. So for God’s sake, Mr. President, don’t let them die in vain. Stop the galamsey now. That’s the best tribute we can say to these patriotic deaths.”