Minority: Frimpong Boateng’s Report Confirms Prez “Galamsey” Fight Was Fraudulent

The minority in Parliament has reacted to the leaked report by former Minister for Environment, Science, Technology and Innovation, Prof Kwabena Frimpong Boateng, in a social media post.

According to them, the report shows the President’s fight against illegal mining, popularly known as “galamsey” was fraudulent.

The reports- handed to the President’s Chief of Staff in 2021- which got into the public domain just last week, among other things, revealed that key members of government and the ruling New Patriotic Party were behind the act.

“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… There are appointees in the Jubilee House that are doing or supporting illegal mining,” part of the report said.

According to him, these officials employed the services of Chinese to work on their behalf.

He said those at the Jubilee House used their roles to interfere in the fight against the illegality.

In response, the Minority Leader in Parliament, Cassiel Ato Forson referenced parts of the report and called for investigations into the allegations.

“Despite the President placing a moratorium on April 1, 2017, suspending all artisanal and small-scale mining in the country for a total period of one year and three months, we are told that in 2018, the government, acting through the Forestry Commission and Ministry of Lands, somehow contrived to give out all forest reserves in Ghana for mining activities.

“To confirm the grand collusion, despite a Cabinet directive in 2019 to suspend the issuance of new licenses and permits, more illegal miners, including Chinese gangs, entered Ghana’s forest reserves with the help of government officials, and the destruction of Ghana’s forests and environment continued unabated,” he posted on Facebook.

Meanwhile, the Jubilee House has discredited the report as a catalogue of personal grievances, claims and hearsay.

In a press statement, the Presidency said Prof Frimpong Boateng failed to provide evidence to support his allegations.

“At the outset, it must be pointed out that the document being discussed was not an official report formally delivered to the Office of the President. On the contrary, it can only be rightly referred to as a catalogue of personal grievances and claims made by Prof. Frimpong-Boateng, intended to respond to some issues he faced as Chairperson of the IMCIM.”

It continued, “It is important also to point out that, whilst Prof. Frimpong-Boateng makes serious allegations against some government appointees, as having been involved in, supporting or interfering with the fight against illegal mining, not a single piece of evidence was adduced or presented to enable the claims to be properly investigated.

“Indeed, the allegations contained in the document are at best hearsay. It is instructive that since Prof. Frimpong-Boateng’s meeting with the Chief of Staff in March 2021, he has taken no step nor acted in furtherance of the matters contained in the document.”