Minority goals Arrested: Lord Commey, Gabby Otchere-Darko, and others

The Inter-Ministerial Committee on Illegal Mining (IMCIM) report implicated party officials and government appointees, and the minority in Parliament has called on the government to arrest these individuals.

The Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP) invited the former chairman and author of the IMCIM report, who is also the subject of this call from the minority, and then arrested him as a result.

The minority highlighted that the government’s commitment to combating illegal mining, also known as “galamsey,” must go beyond the arrest of Professor Kwabena Frimpong-Boateng and include the important members of the government and New Patriotic Party (NPP) officials implicated in the IMCIM report. The minority’s statement was read by the Ranking Member on the Lands and Forestry Committee, Rashid Pelpuo.

“The arrest of Prof. Frimpong-Boateng is not sufficient for this administration to show that it is serious about the fight against this galamsey. In addition to Mr. Gabby Asare Otchere-Darko, the President’s cousin, the Director of Operations at the Presidency, Lord Oblitey Commey, and Albert Quarm, who have all been mentioned by the committee, it should go further by ensuring that they arrest government and Jubilee appointees at the centre of government, they said.

The government’s responsibility to defend the nation’s resources, according to the minority, makes it unfathomable that it would end up becoming the main sponsor of the destruction of such resources.

“It is unthinkable that the state with all its reserves, lands, rivers, money, and people are left to an elected government to manage, and it turns out that the government itself is a key sponsor of the destruction and misuse of these resources, in our opinion a public inquiry on the committee report and damaged forest reserves is necessary, especially with the now widespread destruction of our lands and rivers by ‘galamsey’ operators.

He highlighted that “our forests are being depleted on a daily basis, our rivers are dying, our people are drinking water that is contaminated with mercury, and our cocoa farms are declining.”

Background:

Professor Kwabena Frimpong-Boateng, the former head of the inter-ministerial committee on illegal mining, provided a comprehensive description of his most recent detention by the special prosecutor’s office.

The eminent physician gave an in-depth description of his invitation to the OSP’s office on May 15, 2023, which resulted in his detention and subsequent release on bail, in an interview with 3news.

I had never been inside that building before, he claimed, adding that we waited in the lobby down there.

While awaiting my lawyer, we arrived at approximately 10:00. We were shown into a room when he arrived after being escorted upstairs to the office, which is on the 7th level. The Chief Investigator sat down in the chair that was handed to me.

My two solicitors, followed by a few of those office’s officers, were standing to my right.

So, the Chief Investigator came to me as soon as I sat down. He placed his left hand on my right shoulder as I was seated and announced, “Professor, you are under arrest.”

“Why? He said that they are looking into allegations of corruption and associated activities at the IMCIM, which I presided over. Anything in particular that I did? No, they’re simply conducting their investigations, but I was still being detained, according to Prof. Frimpong-Boateng.

He claimed that in light of other occurrences, such as certain lawsuits filed against him, he regarded the arrest to be “strange.”

Prof. Frimpong-Boateng further disclosed that he underwent a two-hour inquiry at the OSP’s office before to receiving a GHC2 million bail.

Self-recognizance bail was not even mentioned. I required a bailout from someone. So I left and they went to my buddy’s house with him when a friend of mine who was down there came up and bailed me out.

He further stated that he will be required to return to the OSP for more examination.