Appiatse reconstruction did not cover livelihood restoration — Committee, fund trustee

Bodies that were put in charge of rebuilding Appiatse have declared that supporting the livelihoods of the explosion victims was not part of their mandate, the reason why millions in donations remain unused even as residents struggle to survive.

This follows a Daily Graphic investigation which revealed that GH¢52 million of the GH¢112 million raised by the Appiatse Support Fund remains idle.

In exclusive interviews, the heads of the fund and the reconstruction committee defended their records but pointed to a critical bureaucratic gap, political transition and issues over land acquisition as the reasons the project remained incomplete.

Stateswoman and Executive Director of the Salt and Light Ministries, Rev. Joyce Rosalind Aryee, Chairperson of the Appiatse Support Fund, in an interview with the Daily Graphic clarified that her committee’s role was solely financial mobilisation for the redevelopment.

She detailed a rigorous, transparent payment process that was designed to avoid any misuse of donor funds.

"We had nothing to do with the selection of contractors or anything at all; it was the Reconstruction Committee that did it," she said.

When contractors were due for payment, the committee would send the documents.

With the help of KPMG, we put together procedures to help us do so transparently. We didn't even send cheques; we asked for bank details and we paid through the banks to the contractors,” Rev. Aryee said.

She said copies of all transactions were consistently sent to the Minister of Lands and Natural Resources.

Incomplete housing project

Rev. Aryee confirmed that a "sizable amount of money" remained in accounts at two banks, Stanbic Bank and GBC Bank PLC, which were used for managing and disbursing the funds donated by individuals and corporate entities.

She emphasised that full financial reports and handing-over notes were provided to the incoming government after the last election.

“We went to see the Minister of Lands and Natural Resources and told him that since we were appointed by the previous government the minister should take over and put together another team to continue,” she recounted.

Instead, Rev. Aryee said the new minister declined to reconstitute the committees, stating that he first wanted to visit the community to assess things for himself and understand how issues such as livelihood would be addressed.

"We told him there was money to cover that, but he said we should wait," the former Chief Executive of the Ghana Chamber of Mines said.

Consequently, the old committee remains in place technically, but inactive.

"No work is being done from our side. We are not expending any money because nobody has come to ask us to pay for anything. And so, the money is sitting at the two banks," Rev. Aryee pointed out.

Livelihood debate

The Support Fund insists that its mandate was purely financial mobilisation to reconstruct the buildings without stretching to livelihood support, a position echoed by a former Deputy Minister of Lands and Natural Resources in charge of Lands and Forestry, Benito Owusu-Bio, who chaired the Appiatse Redevelopment Implementation Committee.

Mr Owusu-Bio confirmed that his committee’s mandate was strictly to “build houses and hand them over.”

However, he revealed that the third phase of the project grounded to a halt due to negotiation with chiefs for additional land for the project.

“We successfully acquired the land where the old village stood and built the current houses on it.

However, to complete the entire planned community, we needed the adjacent land in addition,” the former Deputy Minister of Lands explained. 

“The chiefs insisted that the committee must purchase the additional land. We said to them that it was not appropriate to use public donor funds to buy land for the very community that was being helped,” Mr Owusu-Bio pointed out.

He said the issues surrounding the land acquisition effectively stalled the continuation of the project, which persisted until the change of government.

Rigid bureaucracy

This admission provides the first official explanation for why dozens of houses remain unfinished and crucial amenities such as a completed market are inactive.

It paints a picture of a recovery effort hamstrung by rigid bureaucratic mandates and a failure to resolve a critical land negotiation, leaving victims caught in the middle.

But for the residents of Appiatse, the clarification offers little solace.

The distinction between building houses and building lives is a reality confronting them daily, as they inhabit empty homes without the means to furnish them or restart the businesses vapourised in the blast.

However, the Appiatse Redevelopment Implementation Committee in its technical report to the government recommended livelihood restoration as crucial for the community.

"In view of this we urge that further steps are taken to partner with relevant agencies and civil society organisations as well as the key actors of the Prestea Huni-Valley Municipal Assembly to prepare livelihood initiatives for the disaster affected people of Appiatse to enable them to make decent socioeconomic living, post handover of the entire reconstructed township,” the committee recommended.

Abandoned

The human cost of the stalled recovery is etched into the life of people like Joseph Appiah, a native whose grandfather founded the original Appiatse village.

He lost more than properties in the blast; the life of his 21-year-old son was extinguished.

His personal tragedy is compounded by immense financial ruin, having lost his drinking pub, provision shop and two houses to the massive explosion that rocked the village on Thursday, January 20, 2022 when a truck carrying explosives from Maxam Ghana Limited’s Iduapriem plant in Tarkwa to Chirano Gold Mines Limited, was involved in a crash, leading to the death of 16 people and the destruction of the entire Appiatse community, near Bogoso, in the Prestea Huni Valley Municipality.

While one of his houses, a four-bedroom ensuit home, was replaced by the committee, he told the Daily Graphic that the rebuilt house had only one toilet facility.

For his 10-bedroom house, which was partially affected, Mr Appiah said he was given GH¢250,000 under the ARIT’s phase two self-build model, which was inadequate to carry out the repair works.

However, he said his means of livelihood had never been restored. Most painfully, he had received no compensation for the loss of his son.