Social commentator Bernard Allotey Jacobs has suggested that the former Minister of Science, Technology, and Innovation, Professor Kwabena Frimpong-Boateng, should refrain from public criticisms of the government.
Speaking on a panel discussion on Peace FM’s Kokrokoo on October 11, 2023, he highlighted that Professor Frimpong-Boateng had accused innocent citizens of being involved in illegal mining activities, known as "galamsey," without cooperating with the police regarding his own alleged connection to the issue.
Allotey Jacobs asserted that Professor Frimpong-Boateng, who has a background in academia, lacks a solid foundation in politics and, therefore, should avoid getting involved in political matters.
"Professor Frimpong Boateng, it will be good for him if he shuts up... for you, you are not a politician, and everyone knows that, they call you cardio Frimpong-Boateng.
“You have gone into politics yet you have no base... you said you wanted to contest for flagbearer, and you lost miserably, and the person whom you contested had pity on you and gave you an appointment because you had a certain status.
“Giving you an appointment as the Minister for Environment. And when the galamsey issues also came up, they made you the Inter-Ministerial Committee Chairman…they have been saying your son is also engaged in galamsey, and you couldn't even dispute it,” he said.
According to Allotey, he believes that such behavior could potentially damage the reputation and respect held by individuals in high academia like Professor Frimpong-Boateng.
“You are following young men doing galamsey who are disgracing you anyhow, I expect him to sit somewhere quiet. You have accused innocent people of being part of galamsey, and now the police are calling for further investigations but you are not cooperating with them.
“If you do that, people won't trust the academia,” he added.
Prof Kwabena Frimpong-Boateng recently took a swipe at a personality in the New Patriotic Party (NPP) he referred to as Ghana’s ‘de facto Prime Minister.’
In his latest open letter to the government, which addressed the issue of how Ghana got to the current stage of lawlessness it is at, he said that it has become clear that there are faceless persons, as well as several others without any positions in the NPP who wield unquantifiable power.
He stressed that these persons have so much authority so much that, to a large extent, they call the most shots in the country.
Making reference to the point that the actions of such personalities go against the blueprints of the NPP he is aware of, Prof. Frimpong-Boateng stressed that this is a worrying trend.
He also spoke about another worrying trend of nepotism in the current government administration, led by President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo.
Click here to start the nomination process for the 2023 GhanaWeb Excellence Awards
Ghana’s leading digital news platform, GhanaWeb, in conjunction with the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital, is embarking on an aggressive campaign which is geared towards ensuring that parliament passes comprehensive legislation to guide organ harvesting, organ donation, and organ transplantation in the country.
You can also watch this episode of People & Places here: