President Akufo-Addo says government is working to develop new measures and regulations to guide the mining industry, especially the transportation of explosives.
He is backing hopes on a yet-to-be-established committee to investigate the Apeatse explosion to chart the way forward.
The western regional town has been left in ruins after an explosion that occurred on Thursday, January 20, 2022, leaving 14 dead and dozens injured.
Receiving a delegation from leading mining firm, Goldfields Ghana Limited on Wednesday, the President described the development as unfortunate and said the government is learning lot of lessons from the disaster.
“I am still finding it very difficult to accommodate what has taken place. We’re trying to get a hand on it and also, more importantly, build a better future out of what has happened.”
“There are a lot of things we’re going to learn out of it which would go to shape future regulations and measures…we are required to find new and more acceptable solutions to help ensure that safety of our population,” he said.
“These things happen, we have to learn from it; it’s tragic and we’re going to take the right lessons from it so that we are not going to hear such an incident again.”
Meanwhile, the Lands and Natural Resources Minister, Samuel Jinapor, has assured of fair and comprehensive investigations into the Apeatse explosions.
His comments came after a chief under whose jurisdiction the incident occurred, Nana Atta Kojo Bremebi, denied reports that the truck transporting the explosives was led by a police escort.
He pledged to go any length to challenge anyone with claims there was an escort with the truck and called for a thorough investigation into the incident.
“I’ve heard that there was a police escort moving with the truck; it is not true. The people of Apeatse were standing by when the explosion occurred, and they all witnessed it. So if anybody says there was a police escort with the truck, it’s false.
“If indeed there was a police escort, was the escort sitting in the truck carrying the explosives or was leading the truck. If anyone wants to challenge what I am saying, he should come for us to question him,” he told JoyNews in an interview.
