Samuel Abu Jinapor
MINISTER FOR Lands and Natural Resources, Samuel Abu Jinapor, has said the government has nothing to hide from the public regarding the findings of the Apiate disaster committee.
He stated that the government is ready to publish the reports of the Apiate disaster, but indicated that the two earlier reports will be of no use to the public because these are technical reports generally covering the mining sector in the country.
According to him, it will however be expedient if the report of the Health and Safety Committee of Inquiry was published since it has a broader mandate, and its recommendations are geared towards reformation of the mining sector.
Mr. Jinapor gave the assurance in a response to an urgent question on what the findings and recommendations of the Apiate disaster reports are, and whether the reports can be made public.
He indicated that following the disaster of January 20, 2022, when the truck transporting explosive materials exploded at Apiate, the Minerals Commission, as the regulator, conducted its investigations in accordance with the Minerals and Mining (Explosives) Regulations, 2012 (L.I. 2177), and submitted its report to the Ministry.
“Given the complexity of the matter, I constituted a three-member Committee, chaired by a highly respected former Chief Executive Officer of the Minerals Commission, Mr. Benjamin Aryee, to carry out independent investigations to corroborate, or otherwise, the findings of the Minerals Commission.”
“On Tuesday, February 1, 2022, I received the report of the three-member of committee. Mr. Speaker, the two reports established certain regulatory breaches, on the part of Maxam in the manufacturing, storage, and/or transportation of explosives,” he said.
According to Mr. Jinapor, key among the breaches unearthed by the investigations include failure to ensure that the transportation of explosives was managed by a certified explosives manager, contrary to regulation 6(2)(a) of Minerals and Mining (Explosives) Regulations, 2012 (L.I. 2177).
Maxam, he said, also failed to ensure that activities that involve explosives are carried out only by competent and certified persons, contrary to regulation 6(2) (b) of L.I. 2177; and also failed to ensure that the code of safe working practice developed for the transportation of explosives is followed, contrary to regulation 11(1) of the L.I. 2177 among others.
The committee, he said, will be making public its findings soon.
BY Ernest Kofi Adu