Indemnity Clause Absolves GAF From Paying Compensation

The Ministry of Defence, says Ghana Armed Forces (GAF) has an indemnity clause ,which does not allow it to compensate any civilian who die or get 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 the issue involving 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, when he was accompanying some military personnel who were involved in road accident to the 37 Military Hospital. Other military personnel on board the helicopter also died but their family received compensation from GAF, leaving the civilian nurse. A private lawyer however sued the government and received a compensation of GH ₵ 15,000.00 to 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 board any vehicle belonging to GAF, he is made to fill the indemnity form, which absolves GAF from paying any compensation in case of any accident, and the case of Nayrko is not an 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 tendering process, the service indicated the quantity of the uniforms it was looking for. 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 for the money, as an appeal over the case did not go in its favour. Lieutenant Kernel Charles Gbekle, Deputy Director of GAF Legal Service, also appeared before the Commission in relation to the notices of intentions to sue the GAF. He produced all documents relating to such cases to the Commission including the pending road accident case on the Mankesim-Accra road involving some personnel of the Naval Base in Sekondi. The Ghana Prisons Service also appeared before the Commission over notices of intentions to sue and it provided all documents in relation to that.