The cheque, which will go to assist the Fund in the rehabilitation of the community, was handed over by the Group Chief Executive and Managing Director of the company, Kwame Osei-Prempeh.

Mr Osei-Prempeh explained that the cheque was in fulfilment of an appeal by the Fund’s secretariat last year for support to rehabilitate the community displaced by an explosion.

GOIL, he noted, had earlier presented food items and other household support to the community in the immediate aftermath of the disaster.

Receiving the cheque, the Chairperson of the Appiatse Disaster Support Fund, Rev. Joyce Aryee, expressed gratitude to GOIL for its generosity.

She said the donation had come at the right time to support the construction of new homes for displaced persons affected by the explosion.

The Fund, she noted, had so far been able to mobilise about GH¢62 million and called on other corporate bodies to continue to support the Fund.

Present at the ceremony were other members of the Appiatse Support Fund Committee, including Dr Suleman Koney, Dr Antoinette Tsiboe-Darko, Josephine Baidoo, Administrator of the Fund and Juliet Osei-Wusu, Secretary to the committee.

Background

The Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources set up an Appiatse Support Fund to aid persons affected by the explosion that hit the town of Appiatse, near Bogoso in the Western Region in January 2022.

Fourteen people died and over 170 persons were injured with several others displaced following an extensive damage to houses and other property in  the mining community.