The New Patriotic Party (NPP) constituency executives in Abuakwa South, Eastern Region, have categorically denied Prof Kwabena Frimpong-Boateng’s claims that illegal mining was taking place in President Akufo-Addo’s backyard.
The claim was made in a contentious report written by Prof Frimpong-Boateng and sent to the Chief of Staff’s office as chairman of the former Inter-Ministerial Committee on Illegal Mining (IMCIM).
He claimed that illegal mining, also known as galamsey, was taking place right inside President Akufo-Addo’s garden in Kyebi.
However, local NPP leaders claim that the allegation is ambiguous, lacking detail and naming.
The NPP stated in a statement signed by the Abuakwa South constituency secretary, Julius Okyere, and Communications Officer, Felix Nyarko Acheampong, that, contrary to claims in the report, no anonymous NPP youth organiser in Kyebi had engaged in illegal mining in an area close to the President’s house.
“In the first place, to state that ‘the Youth Organiser of the NPP in Kyebi’ is involved in any kind of illegality, is only vague, as such allegation falls short of indicating what level of the party structure the said Youth Organiser occupied at the time of the supposed incident. Was he/she a polling station, constituency, regional or national youth organiser? There is nothing like a local youth organiser anywhere in the NPP Constitution,” the statement stressed.
The constituency executives stated unequivocally that the then constituency youth organiser had never been associated with any galamsey operation, if the reference to Kyebi is meant to imply that the alleged wrongdoing is attributable to a constituency youth organiser, rendering this allegation devoid of substance.
They argue that the president’s residence in Kyebi makes it difficult for any illegal mining operations to take place nearby.
The statement stated that, with the exception of those who do not know the house, everyone would agree that the President’s house is not obscured and is surrounded by many other houses.
The statement added, “For that matter, to suggest that an illegal mining operation has taken place near the walled house, to the extent that it affected parts of a supposed garden in the house, only leaves much to be desired about what method at all was used for such operation.”
They stated Prof. Frimpong-Boateng would have been pardoned if he had simply stated that he received such a report during a phone conversation with Eric Antwi of the President’s office.
The NPP officers urged well-meaning media organisations to visit the President’s residence in Kyebi to verify and double-check the facts on the ground and compare them to the allegations in the Professor’s report.
