The government is being criticised for the type of agreement it reached with global explosives manufacturer, Maxam Corp, following the fatal explosion last month at Apiate in the Western Region.
Vice President of IMANI Centre for Policy and Education a think tank, Kofi Bentil, has said the agreement between the Government of Ghana and Maxam is not legally binding.
According to the private legal practitioner, the statement by the Lands and Natural Resources Ministry shows that the $6 million fine slapped on the manufacturer of the explosives that wreaked havoc in the small, quiet Apiate town can best be described as a “gentleman’s agreement’.
“A gentleman’s agreement is not good enough. We have not seen the immediate actions that we must be seeing,” he said on Joy News’ current affairs programme, Newsfile, on Saturday, February 12, 2022.
Kofi Bentil is worried that because the terms of the agreement do not tie down the Spanish multinational, they could decide in the future not to honour it and the state of Ghana would lose out.
“In the emotion and fury of the things that have happened in Apiate, I can expect that anybody will come forth and say I will do this and I will do that…it is like fundraising. When the euphoria dies down what stops the Maxam people from saying that ‘we are sorry we have changed our minds and we don’t think that the fine should be more than 50,000 [dollars]. What stops them?” he quizzed.
Earlier this week, Minister of Lands and Natural Resources, Samuel Abu Jinapor, said in a statement that Maxam had breached regulatory processes, and although the penalties for the breaches pursuant of Ghana’s mining regulations ranges between $600 to $10,000, “the nature and totality of the circumstance leading to this tragic incident” forced the government to impose a hefty fine on Maxam Corp.
READ ALSO: Apiate explosion: Gov’t fines Maxam company $6m
The license of Maxam Corp was terminated before the investigation commenced.
According to the statement, Maxam Ghana can only get its operating license back after paying the administrative fine of $1 million out of the $6 million.
The company has 18 months to pay the remaining $5 million in instalments.
Another 14 conditions have been set by the ministry, which includes the company not transporting ammonium nitrate and fuel oil on a public road to a mine or civil work site unless expressly permitted by the chief inspector of mines.
Maxam has denied breaching mining regulations but said it will comply with the payment of the fine.
Commenting on the matter on the current affairs programme on Saturday, Mr Bentil said Maxam should by now be seen to be doing more for the thousands of displaced residents.
“I haven’t seen enough action…and we need to see that some of these things are leading to answers to the people of Apiate,” the respected Vice President of IMANI stated.
Maxam, he said, should by now be building pre-fabricated houses for the displaced residents adding, “nothing stops them from having a field hospital in Apiate right now.”
“We just did a census so it should be possible for the government to have information on the residents of Apiate. It’s been a few months since [the explosion] and those who have survived are having to live rough, people are dead and their families are going to have issues,” Mr Bentil lamented.
The huge explosion was caused by ten tonnes of ammonium nitrate that was in transit to a mining site.
A crash between the truck carrying the explosives and a tricycle caused a fire that detonated the explosives.
At least 14 people were killed and over 150 injured.
Buildings were razed down and thousands of affected residents have been given temporary shelter.