Deceased Chief Executive Officer of the Forestry Commission Kwadwo Owusu Afriyie is among the big wigs of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) cited in the Frimpong-Boateng report on the fight against illegal mining in Ghana by the Inter-Ministerial Committee on Illegal Mining (IMCIM).
The report said the Commission under Mr Owusu Afriyie deliberately failed to subscribe to GalamStop, an app rolled out to regulate agencies in the forest industry.
“Although it was worrying, I was not surprised that the Forestry Commission did not migrate onto the GalamStop Platform,” Professor Kwabena Frimpong-Boateng stated in his report dated Friday, March 19, 2021.
He lamented how Sir John, as the Forestry Commission CEO was popularly known, was actively giving out timber concessions even in forest reserves for logging.
“He also gave forestry entry permits to mining companies, both large and small-scale, including those of foreign nationals for prospecting activities at a time when the President had put a ban on that activity.”
The former Minister of Environment, Science, Technology and Innovation continued: “Through Charles Owusu, the Director of Operations at the Forestry Commission, Sir John had Chinese gangs doing mining on his behalf.”
The renowned heart surgeon recalled how at a meeting in the conference room of the President, he told Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo in the presence of Sir John “that the greatest danger to the forests of Ghana was Sir John”.
He also cited Mr Owusu for destroying the forest reserves without permit with his mining activities despite being the Director of Operations at the Forestry Commission.