Ghana’s renowned heart surgeon, Professor Frimpong Boateng is once again trending in both conventional and social media. The reason for the media prominence is in relation to the vexed Galamsey (illegal mining) issue. The learned Prof first, assumed media dominance after his replacement as the chairman of the Inter Ministerial Advisory Committee on Galamsey (IMACG).
The President appointed a high-powered team of ministers and some other Ghanaian stakeholders, aside those with environmental nous from the Ministry of Environment, Science and Technology to help crack down on Galamsey. The chairman of the Inter Ministerial Advisory Council on Galamsey (IMACG) was the eminence surgeon, Prof Frimpong Boateng, then, the substantive Minister of Environment, Science and Technology. That was in 2017.
Galamsey had assumed the status of cocaine and so anyone that came in the way of the practice was seen as enemy. So it was, in the case of Prof. Frimpong Boateng and his IMACG team members. Perhaps, unaware to the learned Professor, even some members of his advisory team were deeply involved in the illegal business of the destruction of Ghana’s bio-diversity bodies for money. Soon, stories would fly out that Prof Boateng himself, was deeply involved in the illicit trading, together with his son.
These were all master-stroke calculations to get Prof Boateng tainted even before he could start and finish with the inter-ministerial mandate. When matters came to a head, Prof Boateng resigned his position. His resignation fed into the plots of his detractors. The spin-doctors begun swirling the propaganda machinery that they’ve been vindicated: “Why has Prof resigned? We told you the IMACG chairman himself is deeply involvement in Galamsey, with his son as an accomplice.”
Professor Frimpong Boateng’s implication in the Galamsey menace made his return to the Ministry of Environment, Science and Technology impossible. The Prof, was removed as substantive minister in the current 2nd term of the President. The content and character of our rivers had assumed colours that were deeply troubling, because one could not fathom the extent of damage caused to the otherwise natural colourless nature of the affected rivers.
People died from taking the waters from the rivers which for years, have served as the sources of potable water for many Ghanaian communities, including the cities. Who will contribute to the mess of our water bodies and still be trusted with the mandate to supervise his own induced mess? Thus, Prof Boateng would pay the prize; but the Professor’s latest expose shows that perhaps, somebody else should take the blame. Should the President of the Republic take a portion of the flak?
If Prof Frimpong Boateng’s report was given to the President in 2021, what action did the President take on the subject? Is it the case that the President found it difficult dealing with the content of the report because characters implicated in the report were his trusted allies and assigns? Any neutral observer of the running story could easily deduce that the President’s hands were tied in the matter. And that rightly, was the situation; so taking a firm action or decision on the matter became an unwanted albatross around his neck.
So why is the report making the rounds now? And from my sleuth hounding, which is corroborated by credible sources in government, the President was shocked to the marrow how his own people, including his blood relations could undermine him in the fight against Galamsey. The President was thus torn between the devil and the deep blue sea. It’s one issue that has the potential of derailing the President’s priority target-legacy: Breaking the 8-year two-terms hiatus, that has dominated the Ghanaian political landscape since the inception of the 4th Republic.
How can a President deal with an issue that encompasses some of his own inner-kitchen cabinet members, some of who he has trusted with his life both in opposition and in government? Check the check-list: Gabby Otchere Darko, the one often referred to as the most feared in the Akufo Addo administration; Lord Commey, the Operations Director at the Presidency, Nii Teiko Tagoe, a Presidential Staffer at the office of the President, Kojo Oppong Nkrumah, the smooth operating Minister of Information, the late Sir John and his protégé, Charles Owusu, among others.
Now what the President was struggling to deal with has hit the media throughout the entire week. Trust government propagandists to spin that it was the revered Prof. Boateng who deliberately leaked the report to the media. As a counter, if Prof Frimpong Boateng had any ulterior motive, wouldn’t he have done so, immediately he finished with his report?
All affected culprits have refuted the Prof Frimpong Boateng report but without substantial proof of their innocence or even a threat of seeking redress at the law court, except Lord Commey. In the case of Gabby Otchere Darko, he went ballistic, referring to the Prof as silly without necessarily, dealing with his alleged involvement in the scandal.
