A bombshell report authored by former Minister for Environment, Science, Technology and Innovation, Professor Kwabena Frimpong-Boateng, has found itself in the public domain indicting several New Patriotic Party officials at the Jubilee House accused of actively involved in illegal small-scale mining popularly known as galamsey.
A signed 37-page report by Professor Frimpong-Boateng disclosed that some NPP bigwigs engaged the services of Chinese nationals to engage in galamsey on their behalf.
“Throughout our struggle with illegalities in the small-scale mining sector, what baffled me was the total disregard of the President’s commitment to protect the environment. I can state without any equivocation that many party officials from the National to the unit committee level had their friends, PAs, agents, relatives, financiers or relatives engaged in illegal mining.
“Most of them engaged Chinese working for them. I am not referring to party people who had their legitimate concession and were mining sustainably as they were instructed to do. There are appointees in the Jubilee House that are doing or supporting illegal mining or interfering with the fight against the menace.”
The report added that an NPP MP in the Ashanti Region used his position as a member of the Minerals Commission to acquire several dozens of large-scale concessions in his district, ostensibly for community mining purposes.
According to the report, he ended up selling these concessions to private individuals, including party members for two hundred thousand Cedis per concession.
“This infuriated the party in the constituency so during the 2020 primaries to select a candidate the electorate voted against the sitting MP, who was more resourced than other candidates. Although there were allegations that he “camped” delegates and attempted to bribe them, he lost to a lesser known individual who did not have any financial muscle.”
Prof. Frimpong-Boateng in the report also cited instances when leading NPP officials served as legal counsels for persons accused of involving in galamsey and destroying the environment and water bodies.
The former Minister for Environment said he put together the report dated March 19, 2021, following an order from the Chief of Staff.
He, in the report, also accused a reporter of engaging in unlawful excavator sales and money laundering at the behest of some government appointees.
Prof. Frimpong Boateng kicked out
Prof. Frimpong-Boateng, the then Chairman of the Inter-Ministerial Committee on Illegal Mining (IMCIM) constituted by President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo in 2017 to lead the fight against galamsey in the country was sacked from his role in March 2020.
Details on why he was sacked were not made public. He was kicked out at a time some excavators seized during the galamsey fight went missing.
Source: citifmonline
