Information Minister, Kojo Oppong Nkrumah, has rejected allegations accusing by Prof. Kwabena Frimpong-Boateng which accused him of masterminding a plan to destroy the former Minister for Science, Environment, Technology and Innovation.
The report authored by Prof. Frimpong-Boateng accused Mr Oppong Nkrumah of organising a secret meeting of NPP and NDC Journalists on February 8, 2020 at Dodowa to discuss a strategy to bring him (Prof Boateng) down.
According to Frimpong-Boateng, the outcome of the meeting led to subsequent negative media reports about him.
However, Information Minister, Kojo Oppong Nkrumah, has refuted all the claims stating that the said meeting was a training workshop for journalists jointly organized by the Private Newspaper Publishers Association of Ghana (PRINPAG) and the Bank of Ghana on financial reporting, and that he never held any meeting to oust anybody from the government.
“This event was not a secret. It was widely promoted on media platforms and my personal social media handles as well. It was a workshop to train journalists on how to understand and deepen their reportage on financial matters in Ghana. The event had nothing to do with the fight against galamsey, not even remotely,” he noted.
On the missing excavators and his brief on the issue to cabinet, the Member of Parliament for Ofoase-Ayirebi constituency insists that as Information Minister he is faced with the unpleasant duty of drawing cabinet’s attention to matters of Public Interest which negatively affect the image of the administration and the Country and this, he has done without any malice as the Former Minister himself was first to report the missing excavators to the Police and followed it up with other commentary on the matter in the media.
Hon. Kojo Oppong Nkrumah further alluded to the fact that the former Minister for Science, Environment, Technology and Innovation must feel responsible for all the bad press he experienced due to his handling of the issues in the media.
“Indeed, the facts are that it was Prof Boateng himself who wrote to the Ghana Police Service in January 2020 reporting the loss of some excavators and calling for an investigation. It was Prof Boateng himself who in subsequent media interviews mentioned that the number of excavators missing was about 500. Again on or around February 20, 2020 it was Prof Boateng himself who at Parliament House (During interviews on the SONA) engaged in exchanges with the media about the said excavators and promised that they will be recovered.”
“To be clear, it was Prof Boateng’s own reports, interviews and videos that generated his media challenges around the time. I am thus disappointed that he would, in this document, seek to blame me for the media reports,” He added.
On the issues of his inefficiency leading to the NPP party losing seats in Mining areas of the country, Lawyer Kojo Oppong Nkrumah explained that the reasons for the NPPs performance in the 2020 elections were researched by a high level party committee, and well documented both in the Party’s report and by commentators and analysts. And that since the conclusion of the party’s inquiry, various party leaders have publicly explained the Party’s understanding of its performance.
Mr Nkrumah, however, laments that for Prof. Frimpong-Boateng to frame the matter as though he (Kojo Oppong Nkrumah) is responsible for the party’s findings and therefore responsible for an effort to blame Prof Boateng for the party’s fortune is in all humility illogical,” he concluded, stating further that he feels gravely offended over the false claims and the hurtful conclusions he has sought to exact on him.
Oppong Nkrumah advised the Professor to kindly leave him out of his personal fights.
Below is the Full response from KON
Source: ghananewsonline.com.gh