Make report on Appiatse explosion public – WACAM tells government
There is pressure on government to make public, the full report on the Appiatse explosion that killed more than 10 people and razed an entire community to the ground.
Mining advocacy NGO, WACAM is accusing the government of a lack of transparency and accountability.
Speaking at the launch of a report and analysis of the explosion, Executive Director of WACAM, Mr Daniel Owusu-Koranteng said issues of public safety are issues of important public discussion, hence the need for the report to be made public.
“We are all aware that the Lands Minister constituted the fact-finding committee and the report has been submitted but it has not been made public. This is of serious concern,” he said.
Mr Owusu-Koranteng insisted that government ought to be transparent about the causes and effects of the incident “so that we can hold the duty bearers and the company accountable.”
This, he continued, will help the country keep its attention on the challenging lessons learned from the Appiatse incident.
“It is important that we use the Appiatse explosion to look at the weakness in our mining regulation, enforcement lapses and strengthen our laws to hold the state to address the negative effects of the actions and inactions of mining companies and those that provide services to the mining companies,” he added.
Mrs. Hannah Owusu-Koranteng, who is an Associate Executive Director of WACAM also questioned why the report has not been brought to the public domain.
“Is it because the state is covering up the companies, that is why they don’t want to disclose? Is it because government just want to incur cost?
“Because, if somebody is injured and the person has had an accident and there are insurance companies covering some of these industries, they have insurance cover for accident and then government is taking it upon itself to accommodate the people, feed, pay medical bills etc to the extent that the people are losing their dignity. Perhaps there are a lot of questions to ask,” she said.
Source: Ghana News
