Gov’t launches fund for Apeate disaster victims

The government has launched the Apeate Support Fund to help offer relief to persons affected by the recent explosion at Apeate, a mining community near Bogoso in the Western Region.

This follows a directive from President Nana Addo Dankwah Akufo-Addo to set up a fund for the victims of the explosion, which occurred last Thursday.

The Minister of Lands and Natural Resources, Samuel Abu Jinapor, during a press conference yesterday, explained that the Fund would not only be used to support the victims but will be used to reconstruct the community.

“Ghanaians are known to be hospitable and compassionate, and we cannot ignore our own people who fell victim of this unfortunate incident. On the instructions of the President of the Republic, the Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources has decided to launch the Apeate Support Fund,” he said.

5-member Committee

Mr Abu Jinapor further said that, as part of measures to ensure fair, transparent and judicious use of the Fund, government had decided to appoint a 5-member committee, chaired by Dr. Joyce Aryee, to manage the Fund.

“The committee will be chaired by Reverend Dr. Joyce Aryee, a distinguished and eminent woman who is the founder of Salt and Light Ministries and who has previously served as Minister of Information, Education, and Local Government and has also served as the Chief Executive Officer of the Ghana Chamber of Mines,” he said.

“As a result of her exemplary service to our motherland, she was awarded a Companion of the Order of the Volta in 2006 by the then President of the Republic, John Agyekum Kufuor. [She is] a woman of enormous integrity. This is the woman the government has settled on to chair this important committee,” he added.

Other members of the committee are Board Chairman of the Forestry Commission, Tetrete Okuamoah Sekyim II, who is also the Omanhene of Wassa Amenfi Traditional Area; Philip Owiredu, Managing Director of CalBank; Dr. Antoinette Tsiboe-Darko, Senior Lecturer at the University of Ghana and Research Fellow at the Centre for Social Policy Studies; and Sulemanu Koney, Chief Executive Officer of the Ghana Chamber of Mines.

The Minister called on the citizenry as well as institutions to generously contribute to the Fund.

In her response, Dr. Joyce Aryee expressed gratitude to the government for nominating the team to undertake the task.

“We feel very privileged to be called to serve the nation at this very crucial time of its need. Each of us comes with some level of expertise, and together our prayer is that God will bind us together and give us a singular mind to undertake this task. On behalf of my colleagues, we accept this honour and we ask for your support especially members of the media,” he said.

“We also ask for prayer support that the purpose of this task will be fully realised so that the people will know that we live in a nation that is compassionate, and there’s a government that cares deeply for every person in this nation. I know that within a short time, we will see great things happening,” she added.