A report by former Minister for Environment, Science, Technology and Innovation, Professor Kwabena Frimpong-Boateng, has accused several officials from the New Patriotic Party (NPP) at the Jubilee House of being involved in illegal small-scale mining, commonly known as galamsey.
The 37-page report, prepared in 2021 and handed over to the Chief of Staff has leaked into the public domain.
Prof Frimpong-Boateng who signed the report claims that some NPP officials hired Chinese nationals to engage in galamsey on their behalf.
He said that despite the President's commitment to protecting the environment, many party officials were involved in illegal mining.
“Throughout our struggle with illegalities in the small-scale mining sector, what baffled me was the total disregard of the President’s commitment to protect the environment. I can state without any equivocation that many party officials from the National to the unit committee level had their friends, PAs, agents, relatives, financiers or relatives engaged in illegal mining," the report said.
“Most of them engaged Chinese working for them. I am not referring to party people who had their legitimate concession and were mining sustainably as they were instructed to do. There are appointees in the Jubilee House that are doing or supporting illegal mining or interfering with the fight against the menace.”
The report also highlights that an NPP MP in the Ashanti Region used his position as a member of the Minerals Commission to acquire large-scale concessions and then sold them to private individuals, including party members, for two hundred thousand Cedis per concession.
This infuriated the party in the constituency so during the 2020 primaries to select a candidate the electorate voted against the sitting MP, who was more resourced than other candidates. Although there were allegations that he “camped” delegates and attempted to bribe them, he lost to a lesser known individual who did not have any financial muscle,” the report stated.
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