The Member of Parliament for Tolon, Alhaji Habib Iddrisu, has formally invoked the Right to Information Act to demand transparency from President John Mahama regarding the investigation into the August 6 military helicopter crash that killed eight Ghanaians, including two cabinet ministers.
Speaking on the Asaase Breakfast Show on Tuesday, Alhaji Iddrisu said the government’s silence since the committee’s 30-day deadline elapsed has left families and citizens in uncertainty about what really happened on the day of the tragedy. It’s now been over two months since the investigation began, and the public hasn’t received even a preliminary update.
The crash represents one of Ghana’s worst air disasters in more than a decade, killing Defence Minister Edward Omane Boamah, Environment Minister Ibrahim Murtala Muhammed, acting deputy national security coordinator Limuna Mohammed Muniru, NDC Vice Chairman Samuel Sarpong, and four crew members when their Harbin Z-9 helicopter went down in the Ashanti region.
In a letter dated October 27, 2025, Iddrisu cited Article 21(1)(f) of the 1992 Constitution and Section 18 of the Right to Information Act, 2019 (Act 989), requesting either a full disclosure or an official update on the committee’s findings. His use of constitutional and statutory provisions signals this isn’t just political noise but a formal legal demand backed by Ghana’s transparency framework.
What makes Iddrisu’s intervention particularly pointed is his emphasis on the operational details that matter for future safety. He stressed that the public has the right to know whether the helicopter involved was airworthy, what was contained in the recovered black box, and what caused the fatal crash. These aren’t abstract concerns; they’re fundamental questions about whether Ghana’s military aviation standards meet acceptable safety thresholds.
The board set up to investigate the crash had commenced work and was given 30 days to submit its report, a timeline that expired weeks ago without any public communication from authorities. That silence has created an information vacuum filled by speculation and conspiracy theories, precisely what transparent governance is supposed to prevent.
The Tolon legislator also questioned why autopsies and parts of the investigation had to be conducted abroad, insisting that Ghana should build the capacity to handle such critical analyses locally. Samples were flown to South Africa for DNA analysis to aid in identification after victims were burnt beyond recognition in a post-crash fire. His criticism touches a sensitive nerve about Ghana’s institutional capacity for complex forensic investigations.
The government announced on August 14 that it had invited American forensic experts to assist in investigating the crash, with the Ghana Armed Forces confirming recovery of the flight data and cockpit voice recorders. Yet none of this international assistance has translated into public disclosure about preliminary findings, leaving Ghanaians wondering what, if anything, the black boxes revealed.
Responding to suggestions that his demands were politically motivated, Iddrisu dismissed such claims as baseless, pointing out that those who died were public servants, not party officials. It’s the kind of defense that acknowledges political reality while attempting to transcend it. In Ghana’s hyperpartisan environment, any opposition critique of government action gets immediately branded as political mischief, regardless of merit.
The MP also aligned himself with the Minority’s call for appointment of a substantive Minister for Defence, arguing that national security cannot be effectively managed by a caretaker minister. Ghana’s defence is too important to be left without a substantive minister, he stressed, highlighting governance concerns beyond just the investigation itself.
Alhaji Habib Iddrisu expressed confidence that the presidency would respond to his request within the stipulated 14-day period under the RTI Act. That confidence may be optimistic. Ghana’s RTI Act, passed in 2019 after two decades of legislative struggle, faces persistent implementation challenges. Public institutions have developed sophisticated methods for delaying or denying information requests through technical objections, exemption claims, and bureaucratic inertia.
The helicopter crash investigation isn’t the first time Ghana has struggled with transparency around military incidents. Aviation experts have advocated for involvement of Ghana’s Accident Investigation Board in the probe to ensure impartiality, given that the military is currently leading the investigation. Self-investigation raises obvious questions about objectivity, particularly when findings might reveal institutional failures or individual negligence within the armed forces.
What’s particularly troubling is the pattern this follows. The Z9 military helicopter crash is not an isolated incident but the deadliest in a series of three separate emergency incidents involving Ghana Air Force helicopters in recent years. In 2020, a Ghana Air Force Harbin Z-9 helicopter made an emergency landing near Tamale Airport, and last year another GAF helicopter made an emergency landing. That’s three significant incidents with Chinese-manufactured helicopters in five years, suggesting either maintenance problems, training deficiencies, or fundamental issues with the aircraft themselves.
Previous incidents involving the Harbin Z-9 model in other African countries, including crashes in Cameroon and Mali in 2019, raise questions about the aircraft’s reliability in challenging operational environments. Ghana purchased these helicopters through financing from China Development Bank, with provisions for spare parts, maintenance facilities, and personnel training. Whether those support arrangements proved adequate remains an unanswered question.
The families of the eight victims deserve answers, but so does the broader public that relies on military aviation for various national security functions. Iddrisu’s formal information request creates a 14-day clock for presidential response. Whether that timeline produces transparency or simply another chapter in Ghana’s struggle with institutional accountability will signal much about the government’s commitment to the principles it espouses.
For now, the silence continues, families remain in limbo, and critical safety lessons that might prevent future tragedies stay locked in whatever report sits, presumably completed, somewhere in government offices. That’s the kind of opacity that erodes public trust regardless of what the investigation actually found.
