Gabby Asare Otchere-Darko, leading member of the governing New Patriotic Party, has sued Professor Kwabena Frimpong-Boateng, a former Minister of Science and Technology, following allegations the latter made against the former, in the galamsey report authored in 2021.
In the galamsey report, Prof. Frimpong-Boateng accused Gabby Otchere-Darko of interfering in the work of the Inter-Ministerial Committee on Illegal Mining (IMCIM), which he (Prof. Frimpong-Boateng) chaired.
However, in a legal suit filed at the High Court, Gabby Otchere-Darko is demanding a sum of GH¢10,000,000 from the former minister in damages. He also demands an apology and retraction from Prof. Frimpong-Boateng.
“An apology for and retraction of the words complained of and the particularized supra. A perpetual injunction restraining the defendant, whether by himself, his servants, agents or assigns from repeating similar or other defamatory words against the plaintiff.”
Gabby Otchere-Darko
Professor Frimpong-Boateng argued that, at the time, there was a suspension on the issuance of licenses for operation in forest reserves, but Mr. Otchere-Darko jumped to the defence of a company that was said to be actively destroying the environment.
Speaking in an interview, Gabby Otchere-Darko claimed the former Minister’s accusations are a wrongful twist of facts for reasons best known to him.
The lead partner at Africa Legal Associates added that he did no wrong in defending a company cited in the bombshell report.
“Their jobs [clients] were being frustrated, and I had before me all the documents they were required to have. They were doing legitimate mining, and they were being frustrated. That is why I placed the call to understand why that was happening to them. I’m very disappointed in the former Minister deliberately twisting an enquiry by a lawyer of a client’s issue to be an interference.”
Gabby Otchere-Darko
Responding to Mr. Otchere-Darko in a statement, Prof. Frimpong-Boateng said the claims he made in the interview are laughable.
“Mr. Gabby Otchere-Darko, it is laughable that you claim to have called me to seek information on your client. If you needed any information, you could have called the Minerals Commission. You know I did not operate mining information services.”
Prof. Frimpong-Boateng
He also accused Mr. Otchere-Darko of having a pixelated view of the illegal mining landscape in Ghana.
“Going over the videos and pictures depicting the monumental environmental degradation in the
Prof. Frimpong-Boateng
areas of operation of Mr. Gabby Otchere-Darko’s clients, and seeing his ignorance, I am no
longer surprised that Mr. Gabby Otchere-Darko has such a pixelated view of the illegal mining
landscape in Ghana.”
GII Calls On OSP, CHRAJ To Firther Investigate Frimpong-Boateng’s Galamsey Report
The Ghana Integrity Initiative (GII) is calling on institutions such as the Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP) and the Commission for Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ) to rebuild public confidence, by probing the galamsey report, authored by Professor Kwabena Frimpong-Boateng.
GII also called on President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo to redeem the confidence reposed in him by Ghanaians, by setting up a bi-partisan commission of enquiry into the report.
“It is based on this background that GII is calling on the Anti-Corruption State Institutions to proactively initiate investigations into the allegations contained in the report and make recommendations on the next step. Professor Frimpong-Boateng’s report, therefore, does not only offer the President an opportunity to redeem the trust of the people of Ghana but also, places a burden on state institutions, such as the Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP) and the Commission for Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ) to rebuild public confidence.
“Alternatively, the President could set up an Independent, Bi-partisan Commission of Enquiry to undertake transparent investigations into the issues raised in the report. The report makes a plethora of allegations that GII demands an urgent independent inquiry/investigation into the veracity or otherwise of the allegations.”
GII
Moreover, GII observed that the President’s vow of fighting corruption is becoming a cliché.
“It is almost a cliché to quote the President’s vow to fight small-scale illegal mining; ‘I pledge to put my presidency on the line, if that is what it means to end illegal mining’ but it seems inevitable because, since this pronouncement, a number of incidents have occurred to test the President’s commitment to ending illegal mining but sad to say, the President’s actions have not kept pace with his rhetoric, leading to waning trust in the President’s commitment to the fight against “galamsey” by all well-meaning Ghanaians.”
GII
GII disclosed that it will formally petition CHRAJ and the OSP to investigate aspects of the report that are corruption-related.
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