Professor Kwabena Frimpong-Boateng
Former Minister of Environment, Science, Technology and Innovation (MESTI), Professor Kwabena Frimpong-Boateng, is in hot water following illegal mining allegations he made in the media.
He has subsequently been invited by the Special Investigations Unit (SIU) of the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) of the Ghana Police Service over his allegations against some bigwigs of the governing New Patriotic Party (NPP) in illegal mining ‘galamsey’ business.
This follows a directive by President Akufo-Addo to the police to initiate full scale investigations into the damning allegations of galamsey and the missing excavators during his time as the Chairman of the Inter-Ministerial Committee on Illegal Mining.
The directive for probe was said to have come from the Presidency through the Chief of Staff to the Director-General of the Criminal Investigation Department of the Ghana Police Service, DCOP Faustina Agyeiwaa Kodua Andoh-Kwofie.
Frimpong-Boateng reportedly received a letter from the CID’s Special Investigations Unit (SIU) purposely established to probe the matter.
The SIU has been tasked to take over the investigation of the matter and report back to the President through the CID boss with its findings.
Last week, Prof. Kwabena Frimpong-Boateng, in an interview with the Ghana Broadcasting Corporation (GBC) ‘Legend’ programme on GTV, mentioned that top officials of the NPP, including the seat of government, are involved in galamsey, and they orchestrated his removal as minister to pave the way for unhindered galamsey activities.
He explained that some of the government appointees who supervised his ousting from the ministry continued the illegal mining.
Mr. Frimpong-Boateng said that the actions of military personnel deployed to deal with illegal miners triggered the entire falsehood about him being responsible for the missing 500 excavators at the time, because the military were on top of their job and affecting people associated with illegal mining.
Prior to recent allegations by the respected surgeon, the Inter-Ministerial Committee on Illegal Mining (IMCIM) headed by Prof. Frimpong-Boateng was hit by a number of scandals, including corruption allegations levelled against some of its leaders as well as claims of 500 excavators seized from illegal small scale miners missing.
The CID of the Ghana Police Service on Monday, February 3, 2020, arrested six persons in connection with the missing excavators and other seized equipment from illegal miners in the country.
Among them was the suspended New Patriotic Party Central Regional Vice Chairman, Horace Ekow Ewusi.
However, the then Lands and Natural Resources Minister, Kwaku Asomah Cheremeh, said his outfit had 157 excavators in its possession.
There were 122 excavators in Adentan, 26 in Obuasi and nine in Tarkwa.
Following the scandals, President Akufo-Addo dissolved the IMCIM in January 2021 and assigned Lands and Natural Resources Ministry the lead role in the galamsey fight.
By Vincent Kubi