A group, known as the Upper West Miners, says it can vouch for the Minister of Environment, Science, Technology and Innovation, Professor Kwabena Frimpong Boateng as a man of integrity and of high moral character and that he has nothing to do with the missing excavators.
A statement released in Wa and signed by the Secretary of the Upper West Miners, Adams Musah, said.
It said if Professor Frimpong Boateng was/is not a man of high moral character with an unquestionable character, he would not have let the cat out of the bag that some seized excavators had gone missing.
The controversy began when Professor Frimpong Boateng, the Minister disclosed on an Accra based FM station on Monday, January 27 that the seized heavy-duty machines that were being used for illegal mining had disappeared from the premises of the assemblies where they were being kept.
Prof Frimpong Boateng made the revelation while disputing figures attributed to former Lands and Natural Resources Minister, John-Peter Amewu, that a total of 500 excavators were seized.
Prof. Frimpong-Boateng subsequently wrote a letter to the Police CID to investigate Horace Ekow Ewusi, suspended First Vice Chairman of the governing NPP, over his alleged involvement in the missing earth-moving equipment.
According to the miners, the report to the Police CID led to the arrest of six persons in connection with the missing excavators.
The statement indicated: “We [the members of the Upper West Miners] having worked with Prof. Boateng within the mining sector since his assumption of office as a Minister of Environment, Science, Technology and Innovation know and are convinced that Prof. Frimpong Boateng is above reproach”. The integrity of Prof. Frimpong Boateng can never be questioned as a Minister and a man of integrity with a strong moral character.”
The miners noted that, having dealt with Prof. Boateng on several fronts as a mining group based in the Upper West Region, especially as the Chairman of the Inter-Ministerial Committee on Illegal Mining, “we know what we are talking about without an iota of doubt. We have no doubt and any reservation that the name of Prof. Frimpong Boateng is being dragged into the mud for reasons best known to his political detractors who are bent on seeing to it that his hard earned reputation is soiled”.
The group said its members have taken particular notice of some tapes making rounds especially on some media outlets that Prof. Boateng was alleged to have met with Ekow Ewusi at a meeting. The miners pointed out that, listening to the tape it was clear that Prof. Boateng was not involved in any shady deal relating to the missing excavators and therefore asked Ekow Ewusi to immediately leave his office since he did not know what he was talking about.
The statement urged the public to remain calm and be circumspect with the type of news items they consume from the social media and some mainstream media who are only out to sow a seed of discord and to achieve a mischievous political end in respect of the missing excavators by tarnishing the hard earned reputation of Prof. Boateng who has done a lot to serve his nation Ghana.
The statement reiterated that Prof. Frimpong Boateng will not engage in any shady deal to soil his hard earned international reputation, especially, as the Chairman of the Inter-Ministerial Committee on Illegal Mining simply because he wants to get quick money.
Story by Emmanuel Mensah-Abludo.
