OSP questions Frimpong-Boateng over missing excavators
The Office of the Special Prosecutor has questioned the immediate past minister of environment, science, technology and innovation, Professor Kwabena Frimpong-Boateng, in connection with missing excavators and his leaked report to the Chief of Staff.
According to Asaase News sources, the former chairman of the Inter-Ministerial Committee on Illegal Mining appeared before the Special Prosecutor, Kissi Agyebeng, three weeks ago and was asked to give a caution statement concerning the issue.
Asaase News also gathers that, while Frimpong-Boateng made allegations against people over their roles in the fight against illegal mining, several allegations were also levelled against him.
Details of the case are yet to be made public by the OSP.
Background
In May this year, a leaked 36-page report by Frimpong-Boateng said that high-profile government officials, presidential staffers, security officials and MPs are involved in illegal mining or are interfering in the fight against the problem.
The Special Prosecutor invited Frimpong-Boateng over the leaked report.
Those implicated include the Information Minister, Kojo Oppong Nkrumah, Gabby Asare Otchere-Darko, a leading member of the governing New Patriotic Party (NPP), and the political advisor to the Chief of Staff, Frank Asiedu Bekoe (aka Protozoa).
All have denied the allegations made in the report. Otchere-Darko has filed a GHC10 million defamation suit against Frimpong-Boateng over the issue.
He is also demanding an apology and a retraction of the words written about his person by Professor Frimpong-Boateng (the defendant).
Otchere-Darko is also praying the court to restrain Frimpong-Boateng, his servants, agents or assigns through a perpetual injunction from repeating similar or other defamatory words against him.
Alleged defamatory words
Frimpong-Boateng, in the leaked report, dated 19 March 2021 and addressed to Akosua Osei Opare, the Chief of Staff in the Office of the President, made several allegations against present and past government officials in connection with illegal mining, commonly known as galamsey.
He also accused a number of private individuals of being responsible for the inability of the Inter-Ministerial Committee on Illegal Mining (IMCIM) to fight illegal mining in Ghana between January 2017 and January 2021.
The Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ) has opened an investigation into the case after receiving a petition by the opposition MP Rockson-Nelson Dafeamekpor.
