Former Minister for Environment, Science, Technology, and Innovation, Professor Kwabena Frimpong-Boateng, recently disclosed an incident in 2020 where he was disregarded by the president, resulting in his removal as chairman of the Inter-Ministerial Committee on Illegal Mining (IMCIM) and as minister of the Environment, Science, Technology, and Innovation ministry.
During an extensive interview with AFRICAWATCH, a pan-African publication based in the United States, Prof. Frimpong-Boateng, who is also a renowned heart surgeon, addressed inquiries regarding a specific judgment debt involving the Ministry he previously led, the Ministry of Finance, and Apex Pollution Control Company.
Explaining the incident, Prof. Frimpong-Boateng said, “The Ministry of Environment had signed an agreement with the company in 2014 to carry out monitoring of vehicle emissions, but the project was not implemented at all.
“The company claimed it invested $6,613,520.63 in the project and sought a judgment debt. Somebody somewhere decided to engage the company in arbitration for the government, and in addition to its alleged initial investment of $6,613,520.63, offered the company $20,006,226 for a return on investment and $61,627,500 for the loss of income for 13 years. And this came up to a whopping $88,247,246.63. The Apex Pollution Control Company was going to get about $82 million for doing no work.
“So shocking! To me, there were several irregularities about it. I could see that a huge scandal was staring us right in the face. And I didn’t want to be part of it.”
However seeing “the whole thing” as “too shady”, Prof Frimpong-Boateng said he decided to confront Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta about it. He submitted that Ken Ofori-Atta told him that the then deputy minister for finance, Charles Adu Boahen, was probably behind the whole deal.
“I confronted Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta about it, and he told me Charles Adu Boahen, the then deputy minister for finance, was probably behind it. Soon after some people from the Apex Pollution Control Company came to see me in my office and offered me a US$5 million bribe to approve the judgment debt for them. I rejected it and told them to disappear from my office,” he said.
Prof. Frimpong-Boateng said he then “wrote to the president to inform him” of his inability to approve the judgment debt for the Apex Pollution Control Company. However, to his dismay, he said,” I did not get any response.”
The world-class cardio expert stated that he does not regret any of his actions during this time, claiming that his decision to reject the bribe was “a natural thing to do,” despite being dismissed from office for his purported silence to his report.
“Whoever serves in the president’s administration is his prerogative, so one cannot talk about that. He can fire any minister any time and one must reckon with that. But I am at peace with myself,” he added.
He however expressed his concerns about corruption in the current administration, saying, “I think the president himself will agree that he has not been able to fight corruption. Today, it permeates every sector of this country, and it is getting worse by the day. It’s unfortunate that things have turned up to be this way. The Akufo-Addo who is ruling Ghana today is not the same man that we campaigned for to win the 2016 presidential election. He is not the Akufo-Addo that I knew.”
