Appiatse Accident: How effective are Ghana’s Minerals and Mining Explosive Regulations?

By Bubu Klinogo

Thursday, 20th January 2022 will go down as one of the darkest days in the history of this country, and especially for the people of the Western Region.

At least 13 people are confirmed dead with more than 50 others sustaining various degrees of injury following an explosion at a village called Appiatse near Bogoso in the Western Region.

A statement by the Police indicated that its preliminary investigation has established that a vehicle carrying explosives used in mining collided with a motorcycle and blew up resulting in the explosion.

Videos from the scene posted on social and traditional media showed a large blast area in which at least dozens of buildings had been felled and reduced to piles of wood, brick and twisted metal.

The spot of the road where the crash took place cracked, creating a crater huge enough to swallow the entire truck moments after the explosion.

Some of the bodies have been completely shredded, while others with body parts still intact cannot be identified. Details emerging now show that the truck belongs to a company called maxxam and it was transporting the explosives to the Chirano gold mine, run by Canada-based Kinross.

The President, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo described the explosion as a ”truly sad, unfortunate and a tragic incident”, and extended, on behalf of Government, deep condolences to the families of the deceased, and wished the injured a speedy recovery.

He has since charged NADMO to see to it that rapid relief was brought to residents of the town and gave the assurance that government will spare no effort to ensure a rapid return to a situation of normalcy for residents of Apiate.

The Police need to be commended for intervening and taking control of the area. The swift response from the other agencies like NADMO, Ambulance Service and Fire Service is also worth commending.

It is nevertheless pertinent to raise concerns about the non-enforcement of our laws.

Oftentimes, it is said that Ghana does not need new laws to deal with any situation, because arguably, there are existing laws which can deal with almost every imaginable situation.

However, the problem has been the non-enforcement and noncompliance with the laws which sometimes lead to devastating consequences.

The tragedy we witnessed on January 20, 2022 at Appiatse is one typical example. There is a Legislative Instrument, LI 2177 beautifully crafted to avoid the carnage we saw yesterday. The Minerals and Mining (Explosives) Regulations, 2012 (LI 2177) apply to the conveyance, storage, possession, manufacture and use of explosives for mining, quarrying and civil works. In terms of transportation of explosives for mining purposes, the law requires the vehicle compartments in which the explosives are transported to be covered with sheet metal and lined with treated wood to render it non-inflammable.

The compartment is also supposed to be ventilated, and the vehicle clearly marked with the danger sign. There are equally fire extinguisher rules and driver training requirements among many others. However, without any shred of doubt, most of these guidelines are not strictly adhered to and those in charge of enforcing the laws are rather concerned about other interests.

There is no doubt that accidents can occur at any time and that is why they are called accidents. However, the impact of these accidents can be minimized drastically if the laws and guidelines are strictly adhered to or enforced. In this particular incident, the police must do a thorough investigation and unravel everything surrounding this accident.

The mining company and the transport company it engaged must be brought to book if they are found to have negligently disrespected any of the provisions in the law. Those responsible for enforcing the L1 must also be held accountable. In the end, anyone found culpable must be prosecuted, dismissed or demoted. We cannot tolerate a situation, where because of some people’s negligence, a whole community of a population of more than 1,500 is wiped out and razed to the ground.

Elsewhere, some people would have already taken responsibility and would have done the least honorable thing of resigning, but this is Ghana. This accident has brought a number of safety issues to the fore, especially in the mining sector. Can we do away with blasting in mining and in which case there will not be any need for the use of explosives? Quite apart from the accident, blasting has other devastating consequences especially for the environment. It is also important to undertake extensive public education in response to emergency situations such as the explosion we witnessed at Apiate.

It was scary and troubling seeing untrained individuals rushing to the scene of the accident to take videos and photographs and for other purposes.

Apart from the need to protect the scene, it is also important to understand that those people are putting themselves in harm’s way as there could be further explosions. Once again, we sympathize with those who lost loved ones and we wish the injured a speedy recovery.