The Minister for Lands and Natural Resources, Samuel Abu Jinapor, has disclosed that the Apiate Support Fund is not supported by proceeds from any civil liabilities.
According to him in an interview on Joy FM’s Super morning show, the fund is however an initiative from the government just to support victims from the Apiate explosion. He however added that, as a Ministry, they do not have to be soliciting funds from the public since the explosion is still under investigations but rather their doors are open to anyone who voluntarily wants to make donations.
“What we are doing is not mutually exclusive. It’s not conjoined or prejudicial or has any impact on any other claim. As you know, in situations like this, there are all kinds of liabilities that will arise and criminal aspect as well. So this is absolutely without prejudice. This is just government putting in place a framework to raise funds to support the victims.
“I don’t think it’s the correct way to approach the situation. There are investigations ongoing. If they want to make donations voluntarily, I think that would be up to them but I don’t see how as Ministry, we should be soliciting funds from them, given that they are at the centre of the incident. I don’t know how ethical this would be”, he said.
“What we have done is that we have offers and gestures from all manner of institutions and individuals to support the victims and that’s very Ghanaian and the government thinks that it is important that we synchronise and sanitize that and have this independent body of renowned individuals being responsible for this”, he added.