The Minister for Lands and Natural Resources, Samuel Abu Jinapor has announced government’s decision to set up a ministerial commission of inquiry to probe the Apeatse explosion and make recommendations that would be implemented to make the country’s mining sector safer.

This comes in the wake of the Apeatse explosion which has since claimed 14 lives and injured many others while destroying property.

The Minister, who was speaking to the Press at Parliament Tuesday, mentioned that the committee will be mandated to interrogate loopholes in the existing framework that regulates mining activities and would be expected to make recommendations that would help solve the problem.

He noted that the safety and health of the mining sector and its players would be prioritized in the inquiry, and added that the committee will be specifically made up of seasoned technocrats.

The membership of the committee will be announced next week, he said.

Abu Jinapor is hopeful that the recommendations from the inquiry, when implemented, would make Ghana’s mining sector safer and desirable to foreign investors.

“For the broader interrogation, the broader examination, so that we can learn the useful lessons out of the industry, the larger picture, what are the loopholes? Where do we have to tighten? The legal regime, is it sufficient? The policy regime, is it sufficient?

“And God willing next week we’re going to inaugurate a ministerial committee of technocrats who are going to conduct an enquiry. Not just an enquiry into this incident, but an enquiry into the whole gamut of health and safety of mining in Ghana and not just explosives, everything to do with health and safety of mining so that out of that we can have recommendations which will be implemented to make our country a safe and healthy destination for mining,” he said.