Prof. Kwabena Frimpong Boateng, a former minister of environment, science, technology, and innovation, has accused some prominent government figures of participating in the illegal mining practice known as “galamsey.”
The eminent professor who worked for President Akufo-Addo during his first term in office insisted that Jubilee House, where the government is housed, is where the rot begins.
A 36-page document written by Prof. Frimpong Boateng and addressed to the president, the chief of staff, and the police has been intercepted by MyJoyOnline.com. Last month, President Akufo-Addo ordered the police to look into the allegations.
The renowned surgeon named a few people in the aforementioned document who, in his words, thwarted his efforts and those of the committee he led in addressing the canker.
“Throughout our struggle with illegalities in the small-scale mining sector, what baffled me was the total disregard of the President’s commitment to protecting 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,” excerpts of the document said.
Prof. Frimpong Boateng also charged a former NPP representative in the Ashanti Region with selling concessions that had been obtained illegally for GHC 200,000 each.
This “infuriated the party in the constituency so that during the 2020 primary elections to choose a candidate, the electorate voted against NPP MP, the then sitting MP, who was more resourceful than other candidates,” he claimed.
Despite claims that he tried to bribe delegates and “camped” with them, he lost to a less well-known person who lacked financial resources.
