Host of Good Evening Ghana on Metro TV, Paul Adom-otchere claims that the damning report compiled by former Minister of Environment, Science, Technology and Innovation, Prof. Kwabena Frimpong-Boateng was an attempt to justify his failure as Chairman of the Inter-Ministerial Committee (IMCIM) and to earn him a place in the second term of the Akufo-Addo’s government.
According to Mr. Adom-otchere, the former Minister had picked signals, after the 2020 Elections, that the president was not impressed with his stewardship as Chairman of the IMCIM and was likely not to retain him in his government.
In a bid to absolve himself of any blame and increase his chances of being reappointed, Prof. Frimpong-Boateng, the journalist claimed, hurriedly authored the report in which he attributed the failure of the committee to tackle the menace on alleged involvement of top officials of the government and the governing party in the illegal activities and the frustration of the fight by other equally high profile government and party’s members.
“Frimpong Boating was concerned that he is not hearing anything from the president. So he went to see chief of staff. It’s there that this report was generated. So Chief of Staff was reported to have told him that ‘Prof, the president is quiet disappointed in the way in which this whole galamsey thing that he put you in charge has become and therefore, he has not mentioned your name. He is very disappointed because he held you in very high esteem and he still holds in very high esteem’”.
He added, “He was trying to exonerate himself that he didn’t do a bad job but that the people undermined him. So he quickly put together a report that will show that some people undermined him and therefore, he should be reassigned to another ministry. Unfortunately, I don’t know what conversation happened between the president and the Chief of Staff. I think the both decided that he should go and rest”.
Mr. Adom-otchere, who described the report as poor and flawed, took on the former Minister for acting in his ways that could hurt fortunes of the party which elevated him to such high office.
He claimed Prof. Frimpong-Boateng, out of bitterness over the president’s refusal to renew his appointment, leaked the report to anti-government media.
This, for him, is an act of disloyalty on the part of the physician.
In an incriminating report which has found it way into the public domain after gathering dust at the presidency for 2 years, Prof. Frimpong-Boateng named top members of the NPP and the government allegedly involved in the illegal mining menace known in local parlance as ‘galamsey’ and those who he claimed frustrated the efforts of the IMCIM which he chaired from curbing the canker.
Some of the officials named including the Minister of Information, Kojo Oppong Nkrumah and the president’s cousin, Gabby Asare Otchere-Darko have vehemently denied undermining the works of the committee.
The presidency has also responded, dismissing the former minister’s report as “a catalogue of personal grievances” and “hearsay”.
In a press statement, the Presidency said the report is unofficial and was submitted to the Chief of Staff by the former Minister in an informal meeting after he failed to make it into the government’s second term in office.
But the Minority in Parliament and some Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) insist the allegations cannot be glanced over and should be independently investigated.
A member of the Minority and MP for South Dayi, Rockson-Nelson Dafeamekpor has since, through his lawyers, petitioned the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ) to probe the matter which bothers on corruption, conflict of interest among others.
