The National Democratic Congress (NDC) has expressed disgust at the “stinking” content of the report of Professor Kwabena Frimpong-Boateng on the Inter-Ministerial Committee on Illegal Mining (IMCIM), vowing to resist anything short of a bipartisan inquiry into the document.
The largest opposition party said a formal request will be submitted –in the coming days –to the Clerk of Parliament and the Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP) to initiate the necessary investigations.
These were made known by the National Communications Officer, Sammy Gyamfi, at a press conference on Tuesday, April 25, 2023.
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The damning report, which was leaked last week, indicts a wide number of government appointees, past and present, in the fight against illegal mining, popularly called galamsey.
Among the appointees cited are Minister of Information Kojo Oppong Nkrumah, former Senior Minister Yaw Osafo-Mafo, New Patriotic Party (NPP) lawyer Gabby Asare Otchere-Darko, former New Patriotic Party (NPP) lawmaker Joseph Albert Quarm and Kwadwo Osei Afriyie, popularly known as Sir John, who died on July 1, 2020 as the Forestry Commission Chief Executive Officer (CEO).
Some of them have denied the allegations, threatening to go to court.
But speaking to journalists in Accra, Sammy Gyamfi said: “The nation stands united, crying for justice”.
He said Ghanaians deserve a probe into the matters raised in the report because millions of taxpayers’ monies were pumped into the fight against galamsey for it to end this “abysmal” way.
Set up in 2017, the Committee chaired by Prof Frimpong-Boateng, who was the then Minister of Environment, Science, Technology and Innovation, was dissolved in 2021, at the start of the second term of President Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo.
Sammy Gyamfi expressed shock that the report had been on the President’s desk for the past two years.
The Presidency, over the weekend, questioned the report, saying it was only “a catalogue of personal grievances” and was not officially given to Cabinet, which set up the Committee.
Jubilee House further said: “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”.
But the NDC Communications Officer said “no amount of half-witted and half-hearted explanation of the Presidency or government can whitewash this infamy”.
By Emmanuel Kwame Amoh|3News.com
