It was supposed to be a routine journey in Gabon on that fateful Thursday! But an unanticipated situation was about changing the world of a young vibrant Ghanaian from Ghana’s Brong Ahafo Region, full of life to his greatest nightmare!
Meet Andrews Boateng! Andrews is 37 years and a Mechanical Engineer trained at the University of Mines and Technology, UMAT in Tarkwa in the Western Region of Ghana.
For Andrews, two things defined his world; working hard to care for his now 70-year old mother and other family dependents, and planning a beautiful wedding with his fiancee Elizabeth. Sadly, a car accident on that very Thursday, 24th April 2014, and the subsequent ill-treatment from his employers, Baker Hughes Incorporated (Ghana), were about to crush his world.
His trip to Baker Hughes’s base in Port Gentil, Gabon, was the defining moment that shortened his dreams, truncated hopes of a beautiful wedding in November 2014, and ‘dictated’ a sad “goodbye” to his beloved Elizabeth. Andrews, as you saw him elegantly in the picture above, is now the picture below, courtesy, Baker Hughes Incorporated! How?
Meet Andrews Boateng
Andrews was born in the village of Atuna in the Jaman South District of the Brong Ahafo Region in Ghana to Mrs. Veronica Afi Kesse, a farmer, now 70 years, and a father who died in 1994.
Mrs. Afi Kesse cared for Andrews and his other four siblings through education with proceeds from her peasant farming. Andrews, the last born to his parents, went to the Atuna RC Primary School and completed the Atuna D/A JHS. He left Atuna to Berekum Secondary School.
Andrew’s mother, who had been single since her husband died in 1994, could not support his secondary education. But determined Andrews picked up a pupil teaching job at the Trinity Preparatory school at Drobo and taught for almost two years to secure some funds to further his education.
He left the Brong Ahafo Region to pursue Mechanical Engineering at the University of Mines and Technology at Tarkwa in the Tarkwa Nsuaem Municipality of the Western Region, after her elder sister, Janet Otiwa, a professional teacher offered financial support.
After four years in the University, Andrews graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in Mechanical Engineering in 2006. He had his National Service at the Aboadze Thermal Plant at Aboadze in the Shama District of the Western Region in 2007. Before ending up at Baker Hughes, Andrews worked briefly with Barclays Bank’s Sales Department before moving on to Gold Fields Ghana Limited, a mining company.
Andrews Is Employed At Baker Hughes
Andrews was employed by Baker Hughes, now GE Oil & Gas, as a Field Engineer at the Drill Bit Unit, first as a trainee. Soon, he rose to take over the operations of the Drill Bit Department. In the spate of time, Andy had shown great understanding of his work and department that he was capable to be in charge of choosing suitable drill bits for drilling operations carried by Baker Hughes for its customers.
Apart from this, his daily routine included marketing the company’s drill bits to oil giants in Ghana’s oil and gas industry.
Though Andrews was stationed in Ghana, he was now providing technical support to Baker Hughes’s operational sites in Gabon, Congo and South Africa remotely. By this time, Baker Hughes was convinced of the capabilities of Andrews and was sending him to offer technical and commercial support to countries other than Ghana.
Apart from his competence, credible information has it that the entire Drill Bit Unit in Ghana for Baker Hughes had only Andy as the remaining staff due to redundancies that had been triggered by the oil price slump in 2013/14. By this time, Andrews has worked for Baker Hughes for 4 years.
Take note that when he began travelling outside the country, a contract variation that was to be triggered by Baker Hughes never happened, contrary to Section 1.3 of his agreement with the company. [Read more on this under sub-heading Andrews Abused? In part 2]
Andrews’ travels to Gabon
So Andrews has been travelling outside Ghana without having his contract varied to meet his current service to Baker Hughes. He goes to Gabon to offer some commercial and technical support to Baker Hughes Gabon. He lodges at Meridian Hotel together with a female colleague Prisca Abogho, a Gabonese who stays in Congo. Andrews has been here for some time.
So it occurred that on Thursday 24th April 2014 at 18:00, four Baker Hughes employees left the Baker Hughes Incorporated office in Port Gentil, Gabon, following completion of their day’s work.
They were travelling in a Baker Hughes Incorporated rental car; a Toyota RAV4 4WD with registration number 1720 G8 E, to the Meridian Hotel where two of them, Prisca Abogho and Andrews Boateng, were staying during their business trip to Gabon. Two local employees of Baker Hughes in Gabon, Clarice Tsogou Mabengaou (8 months pregnant) and Bernadette Mbondji, requested a lift to purchase vegetables on their way home.
Pregnant woman killed, Andrews badly injured
The occupants, all wearing seat belts during the journey, were seated as follows:
- Front left driver: Prisca Abogh
- Front right passenger: Bernadette Mbondji
- Rear left passenger: Andrews Boateng
- Rear right passenger: Clarice Tsogou Mabengaou (8 months pregnant)
The vehicle driven by Prisca Abogh reached a junction where they were to take a left turn. After successfully taking the left turn, the Toyota Rav4 was hit by a Toyota Land Cruiser which veered off its lane directly at where Andrews was seated at about 18:39.
The impact was massive, causing the RAV4 to roll over. The Totota Land Cruiser Driver drove off and returned to the police station some 17 hours after the accident. He did not stop to offer any assistance to the occupants.
Heartbreaking moments after the accident
The pregnant woman
The accident happened around 18:43. The 8 months pregnant woman Clarice, was transported to Tchengue Hospital in Port Gentil after sustaining head, neck and back injuries. Despite the injuries, she was conscious and talking.
For over 2 hours at the Tchengue Regional Hospital, no doctor was available, and no drug was administered on the injured pregnant woman. When persons who took her to the hospital were getting worried, she was offered pain killers and a drip bottle after they had bought them from outside the hospital. Shockingly, when a doctor arrived, he could not conduct a body scan due to lack of medical staff.
Four hours (between 22:30 – 23:00) after the accident without any treatment, her colleagues decided to take her out of this regional hospital to Billie Clinic in Port Gentil by an ambulance that had issues with its brakes and lights.
The ambulance arrived at Billie Clinic and medical staff prepared to conduct a scan on Clarice. However, this could not take place because she was on a stretcher, and she could have only been taken up the fourth floor by the elevator which was under construction for a body scan.
A decision was made to call other hospitals in the area to ascertain which had the medical capabilities to assess and treat Clarice. Subsequently, she was moved to Littoral Clinic, Port Gentil. She arrived at approximately 23:30, and was assigned a nurse and a private room. The doctor was not on site and was called from Tchengue hospital. He arrived at approximately 00:00.
Reports suggest that Clarice died at approx. 00:30 on Friday 25th April with her unborn baby. Her body was transferred back to Tchengue Hospital.
Andrews Boateng
Andrews was taken to Saint Pierre Clinic in Port Gentil and then quickly transferred to the Mother and Children Clinic (Mere Enfants) Port Gentil.
Andrews was found to have a dislocated jaw and a head injury, with suspected blood on his brain. He was described as critical and was sedated. Tests were required to ascertain full extent of his injuries. He was airlifted to Libreville Hospital on the 25th of April around 17:00hrs by a military helicopter. On 29th April he was transferred by SOS flight to a hospital in Johannesburg. Andrews remains in a critical condition after 3 years.
Prisca Abogho: (Driver)
Prisca was first taken to Saint Pierre Clinic in Port Gentil with Andrews Boateng and later transferred to the Mother and Children Clinic (Mere Enfants), Port Gentil with Andrews. Her injuries on arrival were reported as head, neck, and shoulder. She was given treatment around 22:00hrs, four hours after the accident. She was given painkillers, antibiotics and a vaccination. She was transferred to Libreville Hospital, and was released. After her release, she was still complaining of headaches and some chest, neck and hip pain.
Bernadette Mbondji
Bernadette was taken to Tchengue Hospital in Port Gentil. She was transferred by to Mere Enfants Hospital, suffering from stomach, chest pains and trauma in the abdomen.
On the 26th April, she was transferred by helicopter to Libreville Hospital. Bernadette is out of hospital and returned to Port Gentil on 11th May, 2014.
Andrew’s family receives bad news
When Andrews was being moved from one hospital to the other, Baker Hughes’s Human Resource Manager in Ghana, Afua Yeboah, called his elder brother, Joseph Fekah in the village to inform him of the car accident. He is asked whether he has a travelling passport by the HR to aid him travel to see his brother, but he responds in negative. Baker Hughes then started processing Fekah’s travelling documents immediately. Whilst Baker Hughes was working on Fekah’s passport, the company asks for any other family member with passport, so he could visit Andrews in the interim.
Andrew’s cousin Robert Kyere had a passport so he stepped in. He left Ghana to Gabon. He returned to the village with the heartbreaking message.
In all of this, for four years, Andrews’s aged mother, now dead, was not told of her last born’s fate. In fact, she was never told till she passed on early 2018.
ANDREWS IS TRANSFERRED TO SOUTH AFRICA
Andrews is flown to South Africa on 30th April 2014 to the Milk Park Hospital in Johannesburg. His elder brother, Joseph Fekah, also left Ghana on 1st May 2014 at 9:00pm to join his brother at the hospital. He arrived at Mil Park Hospital on 2nd May, 2014 at 6:30 South African time.
Here, Baker Hughes’ company driver picked him at OR Temdo Airport and sent him to the Garden Court Hotel at Sundton in Johannesburg. On May 3rd, Fekah was picked up from the hotel to the hospital accompanied by Andrew’s colleague worker, Igor. Tears filled Fekah as he could not identify his brother because of the changes to his body.
Doctor Moeng, the doctor in charge of his brother assured him that the medical team is ready to save his brother on condition that his insurance policy and Baker Hughes could take the necessary steps. By this time, Andy is still in a state of coma.
FEKAH MEETS CELESTINA
At the hospital, Fekah met Celestina Akiniyi, a Nigerian woman married to a Ghanaian. Celestine’s husband appeared to be a university mate of Andrews in his days at UMAT.
Celestina, a beauty therapist out of sympathy and brotherly love paid regular visits to Andy at the hospital. Little did Fekah know that had it not been her, he was only going to eat breakfast from the hotel throughout his stay, as Baker Hughes didn’t provide him funds for lunch and supper. She, in the process, became the real daily financial supporting Fekah’s stay in Johannesburg.
Fekah’s Visa is expired, travels back to Ghana
Soon, Fekah’s travelling visa for his trip has expired, and he needed to get back to Ghana. He returned on June 2014.
Stay tuned for part two of this story, that seeks to bring to the fore, the maltreatment of Ghanaians working in Ghana’s oil industry, despite the existence of the local content law that ensures better treatment for locals in the industry largely run by expatriate firms.
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By: Obrempong Yaw Ampofo
Email: walkerjazzy23@gmail.com