Founder of Africa World Airlines (AWA), Togbe Afede XIV, has donated a cheque for GH¢200,000 to the Appiatse Support Fund, toward the reconstruction of the community severely damaged by mining chemical explosion last January.
Togbe Afede XIV, the Agbogbomefia of the Asogli State, presenting the cheque on behalf of AWA in Accra, said: “I felt obligated to support the people of Appiatse because Ghana has given me a lot, and so I share the problem of the society and want to be part of the solution.
“I always say I’m a slave to optimism, and when all of us come on board we can rebuild the community.”
He praised the community’s reconstruction committee, led by Reverend Dr. Joyce Aryee, for the work done in mobilising resources for reconstruction works and urged well-meaning Ghanaian to support it.
“This disaster could have happened anywhere in Ghana and could have affected anybody because fuel tankers ply our roads everyday and we pass by them always,” Togbe Afede, who is also the President of the Asogli Traditional Area, and a business mogul, noted.
For her part, Reverend Dr. Aryee, Chairman of the Appiatse Support Fund Committee, expressed gratitude to Togbe Afede for his good heart.
She said the gesture was a show of Togbe Afede’s love for community and country because despite having a lot of competing responsibilities toward his people in the Asogli Traditional Area, he also thought about the people of Appiatse.
On the state of the community reconstruction, she said a Reconstruction Implementation Team had begun work on roads and drainage system.
More importantly, the committee had also found temporary accommodation for the affected persons at Odumase, ahead of the raining season.
She further refuted media reports that the committee had ran out of funds, explaining that it was the Prestea Huni Valley Municipal Assembly that decided to transport pupils in a bus to school when the disaster happened.
However, when the assembly could not continue due to the lack of funds, she said it was agreed bussing of the school children should discontinue.
The committee, she reiterated, has been tasked to mobilise funds for the reconstruction of an environmentally-friendly community and not to transport pupils to school.
