Former Minister of Science, Environment, Technology, and Innovation, Professor Kwabena Frimpong Boateng has decided not to engage Minister of Information, Kojo Oppong Nkrumah in a banter despite the latter denying all claims the former made in his galamsey report.
In the report he presented to the Chief of Staff in March 2021, Prof. Frimpong-Boateng accused Oppong Nkrumah of bringing some journalists together to scheme to bring him down while he served as Chairman of the now-dissolved Inter-Ministerial Committee on Illegal Mining (IMCIM).
“On Saturday the 8th of February 2020, Mr. Kojo Oppong Nkrumah, the Minister for information assembled a group of journalists from both NDC and NPP affiliated media houses at the Forest Hotel in Dodowa to discuss a strategy to bring me Kwabena Frimpong-Boateng down,” Prof. Frimpong-Boateng alleged in his report.
He said, after the meeting, a number of media houses published a series of articles to champion the agenda supposedly.
But Mr. Oppong Nkrumah vehemently rejected the allegations describing them as completely false adding that despite being utterly disappointed by the claims he forgives the former minister.
“Over the years, I had nothing but great admiration for Professor Frimpong-Boateng’s public-spirited works and as an inspirational citizen. I feel gravely offended over the false claims he has made and the hurtful conclusions he has sought to exact about me precisely because of the great esteem in which I have held him.
“I trust that in the coming months and years, he will reflect deeply upon his own actions and comments which have led to his challenges. He should kindly leave me out of his personal fights. I am utterly disappointed but I forgive him.”
According to Oppong Nkrumah, the meeting Prof. Frimpong-Boateng referenced was a Private Newspaper Publishers Association of Ghana (PRINPAG) event, jointly organized with the Bank of Ghana on financial reporting which he attended.
He insisted that the meeting was not to oust anybody from the government.
But instead of rebutting Oppong Nkrumah’s response, Prof. Frimpong-Boateng in a statement said he had a piece of good advice for the minister.
“I have good advice for you, though. When I was part of the government, we were colleagues and I
related to you as such. Now I will advise you as my son, just as I do my children. After all you are the
same age as my 4th-born son. When I returned to Ghana from Germany to start the cardiothoracic
project you were just 6 years old as my 4th child. I will not lie to you or insult you or be harsh on you.”
“My advice is, always remember that political power is both short-lived and effervescent. In about 2
years’ time you may no longer be in government, and you may experience the real world as former high-profile political power holders do. I will urge you to do your work diligently and avoid the coded and evil
tactics Mr. Paul Adom-Otchere boastfully and unashamedly told the world on ‘Good Evening Ghana’ that
you employ to deal with your real and perceived enemies”.
Prof. Frimpong-Boateng also attached, to his statement, a video of a galamsey site with someone speaking in the background and accusing Oppong Nkrumah of owning a galamsey site.
Read Prof. Frimpong-Boateng’s full statement below:
