Renowned surgeon, Prof. Kwabena Frimpong-Boateng, has dragged the name of popular journalist Paul Adom-Otchere into what appears to be a banter between a father and son over officialdom’s complicity militating against the country’s war on illegal mining.
In a fatherly advice to Ghana’s Information Minister, Kojo Oppong Nkrumah, Prof. Frimpong Boateng asked the Minister who has journalism background to avoid treading in the steps of Mr. Adom-Otchere who is the host of ‘Good Evening Ghana’ on Metro TV.
He described Paul Adom-Otchere’s work as “coded and evil tactics”.
This comes after Mr. Oppong Nkrumah denied allegations made by the surgeon, accusing him of assembling a group of journalists at the Forest Hotel at Dodowa to discuss a strategy to bring Prof. Frimpong-Boateng down.
The allegation was contained in a 36-page document authored by Prof. Frimpong-Boateng in 2021 to the Chief of Staff at the Office of the President as the former Chairperson of the erstwhile Inter-Ministerial Committee on Illegal Mining (IMCIM).
“What would I, a much younger man, seek to gain from bringing down a person as well respected as Prof Boateng? I had no interest in his profession, his politics or his portfolios. I have absolutely nothing to gain from sullying his reputation.
“More importantly, as a matter of principle and my upbringing, I do not conduct my personal affairs or politics by seeking to hurt people. The values that guide my work over the decades include the fact that it is God who raises men and women. It is not our machinations that raise men and women. I am not one to dabble in such schemes and practices,” Oppong Nkrumah said in his denial statement.
But Prof. Frimpong-Boateng found the minister’s denial to be “normal”, observing that, “Very few people in your position will own up to their wrongdoings.”
“I have good advice for you, though. When I was part of the government, we were colleagues and I related to you as such. Now I will advise you as my son, just as I do my children. After all you are the same age as my 4th born son.
“When I returned to Ghana from Germany to start the cardiothoracic project you were just 6 years old as my 4th child. I will not lie to you or insult you or be harsh on you,” the heart surgeon who is also a former Minister for Environment, Science, Technology and Innovation said in a response on Sunday.
“My advice is, always remember that political power is both short-lived and effervescent. In about 2 years’ time you may no longer be in government and you may experience the real world as former high profile political power holders do.
“I will urge you to do your work diligently and avoid the coded and evil tactics Mr. Paul Adom-Otchere boastfully and unashamedly told the world on ‘Good Evening Ghana’ that you employ to deal with your real and perceived enemies,” he counseled.
It is not clear why the host of Good Evening Ghana on Metro TV would be entangled in that murky conversation about galamsey and journalism.
Mr. Adom-Otchere who is a known apologist of the current government has on a number of occasions used his programme to attack persons with critical opposing views to government and its officials.