Former Minister of Environment, Science, Technology and Innovation, Prof. Kwabena Frimpong-Boateng says he has been alienated from the governing New Patriotic Party and targeted following his report on illegal mining which implicated high ranking officials of the Akufo-Addo government and the party.
In the 37-page report authored by the renowned heart surgeon, he accused top officials of the government of being involved in illegal mining known in local parlance as galamsey.
Prof. Frimpong-Boateng claimed the said officials hired Chinese nationals to engage in the illegal activities wrecking havoc in the country on their behalves.
He also accused other government officials including the Information Minister of thwarting the efforts of the Inter-ministerial Committee on Illegal Mining which he chaired from tackling the menace.
The report was submitted to the presidency in 2021 by the former Minister but was left in the shelves to gather dust till it leaked this year.
Its content made headlines for weeks with many of the accused dismissing the allegations while some went a step further to sue the author for defamation.
The government suddenly took interest in the matter and referred the document to the police for investigation.
After months of investigations, the Attorney General and Ministry of Justice dismissed the report as empty and lacking core evidence to nail the accused persons in a courtroom.
It claimed that the former Minister failed to present any incriminating evidence against the individuals named in the report and thus, advised the police discharge them.
While dismissing the A-G’s claim that he did not provide any substantial evidence to police investigators, Prof. Frimpong-Boateng said his party communications directory had instructed its members to make life difficult for him after the report made it way to the public domain.
“Some two NPP communicators were on a radio station saying all sort of unsavoury things about me. So I asked one of my friends to talk to that person to find out what was happening and he said that they have instructions from the communication directory that they should make life difficult for me, insult and do those kind of things,” he said in an interview on TV3.
“All the criticisms and insults about galamsey that I have faced had come from my own party. So to me, I have issues with the present configuration of the NPP. I’m sort of alienated from them, I don’t feel part of it”.
