<<Print>>A member of the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP), Gabby Asare Otchere-Darko, has sued Professor Kwabena Frimpong-Boateng, a former Minister of Science and Technology, following allegations made against him in a report to the Chief Staff in 2021.
Prof. Frimpong-Boateng in the galamsey report accused Mr. Gabby Otchere-Darko of interfering in the work of the Inter-Ministerial Committee on Illegal Mining (IMCIM) which he chaired.
But in a legal suit filed at the Accra High Court, Mr. Otchere-Darko is demanding a sum of GH¢10,000,000 from the former Minister as General Damages including Aggravated and/or Exemplary Damages for defamation for libel uttered by Prof. Frimpong-Boateng.
Mr. Otchere-Darko also demands an apology and retraction from Prof. Kwabena Frimpong-Boateng.
“An apology for and retraction of the words complained of and the particularized supra. A perpetual injunction restraining the defendant whether by himself, his servants, agents or assigns from repeating similar or other defamatory words against the plaintiff,” Mr. Otchere-Darko demanded as part of his reliefs.
Gabby's denial
In an interview with Citi FM, Mr Otchere-Darko, denied interfering with the work of the Inter-Ministerial Committee on Illegal Mining (IMCIM).
"It tells you how weak the [former] Minister’s understanding of his position is. If what I did was illegitimate, why didn’t he take the right action? He said he had reported me to the President, as if he is a teacher and the President is a headmaster, and I am a prefect,” he said.
He further dared the former Minister to "come and say that when I called him, I was pushing an illegitimate point, let him come and say so. I based my intervention on the legality of what my clients were doing and what I saw to be an illegitimate action of the state against a company that the same state had issued permits and licenses to operate its business.”
“If he has his own issues, let him deal with them, but he should not misinterpret a legitimate action of a lawyer on behalf of a client who had a legitimate case as a matter of interference,” he added.
Prof. Frimpong-Boateng fires
The former Minister in response, however, finds Gabby's claim "laughable".
"After listening to the words of Mr. Gabby Otchere Darko I became sad for Ghana. I wondered what happened to us to get to this state, where a person who is supposed to be the lawyer of a mining company exhibited such industrial-scale ignorance about mining laws and regulations."
"Mr. Gabby Otchere-Darko, it is laughable that you claim to have called me to seek information on your client. If you needed any information, you could have called the Minerals Commission. You know I did not operate mining information services. You called to tell me that your client had a valid mining licence and all necessary permits. I told you that Heritage Imperial Co. Ltd. did not possess documents permitting it to undertake active mining," he said.
"That notwithstanding through your intervention the Chinese, who were arrested were released by the task force. The many soldiers who were providing security service to your client’s company attacked the IMCIM task force team and damaged the vehicle carrying journalists who were covering the IMCIM operations," he added.
See attached for full writ of summons