Victims of the Appiatse disaster have served notice to besiege the premises of Maxam company to protest delays in addressing their needs.
The Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources slapped a fine of US$1 million on Maxam Company Limited, the company at the centre of the explosion at Appiatse in the Prestea Huni-Valley Municipality of the Western Region early this year.
At least 900 persons were displaced and 15 confirmed dead, according to the National Disaster Management Organisation (NADMO).
The aggrieved victims are accusing officials of Maxam of being silent over their plight and want to stage a peaceful demonstration to revive discussion on the issue.
“The Maxam company was fined by the government for some regulatory breaches, but we need compensation. A lot of residents are in an apologetic state, several of them can’t fend for themselves if not for the benevolence of some individuals and NGOs,” some of the victims told Asaase News.
“Most of us would not have survived, times are tough for us. The company was fined by the government, but for us, they are yet to tell us about our compensation,” another victim said.
On the outskirts of Appiatse, Tony Mintah tells Asaase News how victims survive on the goodwill of some individuals and companies.
“Since this incident, we keep receiving donations but we are poor. We were expecting the company which brought this on us to come to our aid.”
However, the spokesperson of the Appiatse Disaster Commitee, Thywill Quorshie, said: “We understand that they think somethings are not being done well, or somethings are not transparent to them because they think that after nine months into this disaster, they expect that Maxam should be visiting them, giving them some words of encouragement.”
“There should be some arrangements with Maxam by now to at least, be setting up some of them, taking care of the needs of some of the injured, and those orphaned and widowed by the explosion, let alone to talk about their livelihood issues,” he added.
Abigail Ibrahim and Isaac Hughes
Listen to Asaase 99.5 Accra’s Isaac Hughes’ report in the attached audio clip below:
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