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A letter from Abdul Malik Kweku Baako to Prof. Frimpong Boateng
Good day Prof,
Forgive me for ‘distracting’ you with yet another presentation to you despite your busy schedule as you indicated to me in one of your responses to my earlier reactions.
This particular presentation has been triggered by my reading of your Report to the Chief of Staff (CoS) in full and the portions concerning me and The New Crusading GUIDE’s publications about you which you consider as part of the “consistent and long-standing attacks on you” by me and the newspaper.
On page 16 of your Report; you articulated that “The IMCIM organized its task force and a complex operation to dislodge Donald Entsuah and his C&G Aleska from Diaso forest. The jubilation in the communities around the concession was ecstatic. Naturally, Donald Entsuah and his friend were not happy with what the IMCIM did”.
You continued: “I, IN PARTICULAR, CAME UNDER SEVERE ATTACK. A FIERCE ATTACKER WAS MR. KWEKU BAAKO, A JOURNALIST WHO PERSONALLY CALLED TO INFORM ME THAT THE MANAGERS OF C&G WERE HIS FRIENDS, MR. KWEKU BAAKO PUBLISHED UNSAVOURY THINGS ABOUT ME AT THE TIME” (Emphasis mine).
You would recall that in my second Whatsapp communication (19th April, 2023) with you, I indicated that because I had not accessed a copy of your Report addressed to the Chief of Staff (CoS), “I would not argue issues with you, at least for now”.
Fortunately, a ‘good Samaritan’ sent me a copy of the FULL REPORT yesterday, and I am now inclined to call your attention to the obvious flaws inherent in your references and/or observations about me in the IMCIM’s fight against galamsey and illegal mining.
The following are my “verifiable facts” relative to my interations/encounter with you upon your assumption of office as the Chairman of the IMCIM.
(1): I made two (2) telephone calls to you on 20th October, 2017 (official MTN call chart available for verification and auhentication) the purpose of which was to arrange an appointment for the Canadian owner of C&G Aleska Company, Simon Adyin and Donald Entsuah, the Ghanaian General Manager of the company, to see you.
(2): The two (2) telephone calls which lasted 4 minutes, 25 seconds (combined) resulted in you kindly agreeing to meet the two gentlemen representing the company under reference at 4pm, in your office.
(3): During my second call to you (same day; 20th October, 2017), I explained to you the purpose of the meeting you had scheduled for them in your office at 4pm that day. I told you that the two gentlemen (one of whom Donald was a personal friend) intended to brief you on the consistent invasion of the Company’s concessions by galamseyers since October 2016. I also informed you about their claims that you were trying to get Cabinet to suspend or cancel their legitimate lease for large scale mining without due process, and to dispel rumours that their concession actually belonged to Ibrahim Mahama. I remember telling you that they would be presenting relevant and authentic documentation to defend their case. I also promised to send you reports and documents I had gathered on galamsey operations since August 2016 as a result of an investigative project undertaken by The New Crusading GUIDE.
(4): I personally was not present at the meeting in your office. Neither did I ever plead with you to assist them (C&G Aleska) to engage in any illegality relative to their mining operations or anything else. And you must know I speak the truth, and nothing but the truth, in this context!
(5): One very crucial and significant observation I have made relative to the sequence of your narration in your Report to the CoS, is that you sought to suggest that my purported attacks on you were occasioned by the execution of a “complex operation to dislodge Donald Entsuah and his C&G Aleska from Diaso Forest ….” And that because “Naturally, Donald Enstuah and his friend were not happy with what the IMCIM did”, I personally called you to inform you that “the managers of C&G were his friends. Kweku Baako published unsavory things about me at the time”.
(6): Nothing could be further from the truth relative to the proceeding paragraph. In the first place, my telephone calls to you were on 20th October, 2017 while your IMCIM’s “Complex Operations to dislodge Donald Entsuah and his C&G Aleska from Diaso forest” was conducted on 9th February, 2019, almost 1 year, 5 months after the two telephone calls I made to you. Please note that those two telephone calls on 20th October, 2017, were the ONLY calls I made to you while you were in office as a Minister and Chairman of the IMCIM from 2017 to 2021!
(7): Interestingly, the issue of these two telephone calls became part of the proceedings at the High Court in the case of defamation I filed against Mr. Kennedy Agyapong who had submitted before the court that you had given him documents which ‘indicted’ me of involvement in illegal mining and galamsey. Unfortunately, Mr, Agyapong chose not to exercise his declared intention to subpoena you on the grounds that you were afraid to come to court to testify for him because of alleged threats and intimidations you had suffered from me!
(8): Finally, I have taken judicious notice of your reference(s) to some “unsavoury things” published by The New Crusading GUIDE in December 2019’s publications which you captured in your Report. As a matter of principle and professionalism, I, in my capacity as a Co-Publisher of the newspaper, accept ultimate responsibility for those publications even though I had no direct editorial and/or operational involvement with the production of those editions of the newspaper. I also note that the two publications under reference had NO relationship with the “Complex Operation to dislodge Donald Entsuah and his C&G Aleska from Diaso Forest”.
(9): However, I appreciate your concern(s). And I am ready and willing to render an appropriate apology for any reputational harm caused to you. Alternatively, as the Fundamental Law of the Land (Constitution) has prescribed; a rejoinder; a compliant to the National Media Commission or even a recourse to the Court of Law, are still open to you for redress, if need be.
I remain your good old friend,
ABDUL MALIK KWEKU BAAKO
(20th APRIL, 2023, ACCRA, GHANA)
PS:
My first Whatsapp message to you, seeking to verify the veracity or otherwise of some attributions made to you about me on social media including Facebook, was meant to be personal and private. However, your response to me via Whatsapp found its way into the public space; Facebook and other social media networks within 24 hours.
Inspite of that development, I continued a series of exchanges with you via Whatsapp; same on a private and personal mode. However, after accessing a copy of your Report addressed to the Chief of Staff, and with particular focus on the things you said about me; and against the backdrop of the widespread circulation of innuendos, insinuations and outright defamatory interpretations of your Report relative to me and my character, I have opted to go public with this reaction of mine, for good reasons!
God bless our homeland Ghana, and rid her of all traces of “Environmental Terrorism and Terrorists”, Ameen!
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Swedru All Blacks back to winning ways, Roshan humble King Faisal
Sekondi Rospak FC made it eight wins in eight successive home games after three second-half goals from John Amoah, Joseph Ntow and Stephen Anthony Kofi. John Amoah opened the scoring in the 55th minute after a barren first half. Joseph Ntow added to the tally in the 56th minute before Stephen Anthony Kofi rounded things up in the 74th minute to give Rospak a 3-0 win over former Premier League side King Faisal.
Elsewhere at Swedru – leaders Swedru All Blacks humbled PAC Academy in an emphatic 2-0 win. Zayat Bubakari scored first for Swedru All Blacks in the 27th minute before Rudolf Junior Nana Kwasi Mensah made it 2-0 in the 34th minute. Swedru All Blacks are top of the table with 36 points – 4 points ahead of second placed Rospak FC.
Meanwhile, Former Premier League side Cape Coast Mysterious Dwarfs recorded their fourth successive home victory after beaten New Edubiase United 2-1 at the Robert Mensah Park. Enoch Odoom struck first for Cape Coast Mysterious Dwarfs in the 19th minute but Steven Asante equalized for New Edubiase United before halftime. After the interval, Godfred Eshun scored from distance in the 65th minute to help Cape Coast Mysterious Dwarfs secure all the points.
Here are the results in Zone Two
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Cervical Cancer alert: Avoid sex at early age
The Programmes Manager of Non-Communicable Diseases (NCDs) of the Ghana Health Service (GHS), Dr Mary Efua Commeh, has advised young girls to avoid sex at an early age.
This, she explained, will give the cervix the opportunity to mature before they become sexually active.
“You need to delay what we call the first sexual intercourse as much as possible to give the cervix the opportunity to mature before the person becomes sexually active,” she said.
Dr Commeh stated this in an interview with The Spectator in Accra on Tuesday as a part of the Cervical Cancer awareness month.
According to her, cervical cancer was the second leading female cancer in Ghana with a total of about 3,072 cases annually, and out of that, 1,815 deaths are recorded, representing more than 50 per cent.
She indicated that “If young girls are going to be sexually active, then you need to talk to your parents about being vaccinated.”
She explained that vaccinating young girls against human papillomavirus (HPV) has been found to be a very effective way of preventing cervical cancer.
“There are countries that started HPV vaccination years ago and they are not seeing any cervical cancers now because they would have eliminated most of the high-risk HPVs in their women. So if the high-risk HPV is not there, then obviously the results on cervical cancers are going to go down,” she added.
Dr Commmey said the HPV vaccination is recommended for young girls aged nine to 14 years, adding that it had been found to be highly effective, not just for cervical cancers but for other HPV-related cancers, such as anal cancers, cancers of the vagina, genital warts, amongst others.
She further elaborated that the idea is to put up a barrier before the HPV comes in and that once a young female encounters it, she is already protected.
She also mentioned that for cervical cancers, the main cause is called HPV infection, saying generally, all sexually active women acquire HPV at some point in their lives.
However, the Programmes Manager of NCDs at the GHS mentioned that the body has a way of clearing the HPV, explaining that it is a natural mechanism that goes on, unfortunately, there are a few women whose HPV persists.
Moreover, she noted that the numbers for Cervical Cancer tend to be much higher because at times, clients would wait, and try all sorts of medications before they finally report to the health facility saying “we actually lose some women before they get to the hospitals with over 75 per cent of the cases coming in its third and fourth stages.”
Dr Commey, therefore, called for public awareness while ensuring the availability of information for prevention and control.
By Jemima Esinam Kuatsinu
