Minister for Lands and Natural Resources, Samuel Abu Jinapor, has refrained from passing judgment on former Environment, Science, Technology and Innovation, Prof Kwabena Frimpong-Boateng, following the leaked Inter-Ministerial Committee on Illegal Mini (IMCIM) report.

Jinapor noted that it would be "undignified" on his part to judge the Professor, who is his predecessor in the fight against illegal mining (galamsey). He added that Ghanaians would be in a better position to pass any judgment on the report, as well as the work of the defunct Frimpong-Boateng-led IMCIM, which operated between 2017 and 2021.

"I think it will be most unfair to the Professor...if I’m to stand here to speak against his work, that will be so undignified and I cannot do that," Jinapor said at a press briefing organised by the Information Ministry in Accra on Tuesday, May 2, 2023.

The release of the report, authored by Frimpong-Boateng, who was the Chairman of the defunct IMCIM, has been controversial. The report contains a list of government officials and party faithful from both the New Patriotic Party (NPP) and the National Democratic Congress (NDC) who were either involved in illegal mining or interfered in the fight against the activity during the Professor's tenure.

NPP stalwart Gabby Asare-Otchere Darko, Information Minister Kojo Oppong Nkrumah, and former CEO of the Forestry Commission, Kwadwo Owusu Afriyie, popularly known as Sir John, are among those accused of involvement in illegal mining or interference in the fight against it. Asare-Otchere Darko has filed a defamation lawsuit against the Professor over the allegations.

While acknowledging that there may be shortcomings associated with the report, Jinapor noted that it also contains valuable information that the government can adopt in the fight against the menace.

"The report cannot be sacrosanct. It has to be interrogated. It has to be examined, and as I said, those parts that can be adopted should be, and those parts that should be jettisoned should be. What is important is that we remain focused and do the work of the good people of Ghana," he said.

Regarding calls for persons mentioned in the report to be sanctioned, Jinapor urged persons with evidence to submit it, so that the necessary actions can be taken against anyone found culpable of the claims in the report.

"If there is evidence that anybody is involved in illegal mining, the full force of the law must be brought to the person. So the most important thing is evidence, and I believe that the security agencies are very wide awake and picking intelligence. We cannot win this fight if we begin to pick and choose," he added.