A security analyst, Mr. Eric Nartey Yeboah, has called on Ghanaians to sustain the unity often seen during national tragedies and major football events, and channel it into nation-building.

Speaking to Classfmonline.com in the aftermath of the August 6 military helicopter crash that claimed the lives of two Cabinet ministers and six others in the Ashanti Region, Mr. Yeboah questioned why Ghanaians tend to rally together only in the wake of prominent deaths or during football tournaments.

The victims of the fatal crash in the Adansi Akrofuom District included:

Dr. Edward Omane Boamah, Minister for Defence

Ibrahim Murtala Muhammed, Minister for Environment, Science, Technology and Innovation

Muniru Mohammed, Acting Deputy National Security Coordinator

Samuel Aboagye, former parliamentary candidate

Samuel Sarpong, NDC Vice Chairman

Squadron Leader Peter Bafemi Anala

Flying Officer Manin Twum-Ampadu

Sergeant Ernest Addo Mensah

The Ghana Armed Forces Z-9 helicopter carrying the eight went off radar while en route to Obuasi.

Mr. Yeboah, who also serves as the Greater Accra Second Vice Regional Chairman of the New Patriotic Party, said Ghana’s diverse cultural heritage should be a basis for unity, rather than a divide, and that politics has “taken a chunk” out of the nation’s cohesion.

“At the age of 68, we should not be united only around death and football,” he stressed.

“We have a lot in common that should unite us as a nation.

This current show of unity between political parties must be carried forward to help build the country.”

He noted that despite Ghana’s mineral wealth, the country is lagging behind others due to political division.

He therefore urged citizens to “not throw away this feat” of unity witnessed after the crash, but to transform it into a lasting national purpose