Apiate Explosion: 'Calls For Resettlement Too Premature' – Regional Minister

Western Region Minister, Kwabena Okyere Darko Mensah, says after the near-annihilation of the entire Apiate community following last week’s massive explosion, authorities are yet to decide on relocating indigenes.
 
According to him, the affected people will be catered for – he, however, ruled out resettlement of the whole community as highly suggested.

Tragic Incident

Fourteen people were killed and 179 others injured in the explosion, which occurred on Thursday, January 20, 2022.

Preliminary investigations by the Police indicated that a mining explosive vehicle moving from Tarkwa to the Chirano Gold Mines collided with a motorcycle resulting in the explosion at Apiate, a farming community between Bogoso and Bawdie in the Prestea Huni-Valley Municipality in the Western Region.

Police Investigates

A team of investigators from the Criminal Investigative Department of the Ghana Police Service on Sunday, January 23, 2022, interrogated the truck driver and the rider of the motorcycle believed to be involved in the accident.

The team interrogated the two persons at the disaster site as part of measures to unravel the cause of the explosion; driver of the truck and the motor rider.

The truck driver declined to engage the media after the interrogation, saying: “I have been instructed not to speak.”

The CID team said the interrogation would help them to unravel the circumstances that led to the accident and the subsequent explosion.

No Decision Yet
 
Hon Darko Mensah, who also serves as a Member of Parliament for Takoradi Constituency, told NEAT FM’s morning show ‘Ghana Montie’ that, experts after visiting the community did not suggest relocation.
 
Experts have not given any indication for us to relocate them, so we will take that decision into consideration and rebuild the community for now,” He told host Mac Jerry Osei Agyemang. 

Till Further Notice

In a related development, the Minerals Commission has ordered Maxam Ghana Limited, a Mines support service company in Tarkwa to cease operations following the explosion at Appiatse in the Prestea Huni-Valley Municipality.

Mr Isaac Mwinbelle, the Western Regional Manager of Minerals Commission, who issued a prohibition notice to the company through the Manager of the site, added that "you are not to carry out any other operations till further notice."

He pointed out that "even though the accident did not happen at Maxam Ghana Limited site it was from here that the materials were transported before the accident occurred. So we think that it is better to stop the source so that once we put everything in place, then operations will commence".

Veep Condoles

Meanwhile, Vice President Mahamudu Bawumia has led a Government delegation to the community on Friday. He gave assurance that Government would collaborate with the State Housing Corporation and mining companies to construct temporary housing facilities for those displaced in the explosion.