Renowned Heart Surgeon and former Minister of Environment, Science, Technology, and Innovation (MESTI), Professor Kwabena Frimpong Boateng has disclosed that his tough stance against illegal mining, popularly known as galamsey cost him his ministerial role.

Professor Frimpong Boateng says his intolerance for illegal mining irrespective of whoever was involved caused him to step on many toes including that of some bigwigs within his party NPP.

He, therefore, explained that his exit was a grand orchestration by some party stalwart who wanted to have their way to continue with their nefarious activities.

Citing a case to buttress his claim, the world-renowned heart surgeon mentioned that the famous missing excavators scandal was a deliberate ploy by some NPP members to sabotage him and tarnish his reputation in order to cause his exit.

He, therefore, insisted that the story was untrue and should be disregarded by all Ghanaians.

“The true story is that at the start of Operation Vanguard, the soldiers were supposed to arrest the excavators, but they will go into the forest and remove the control boards of the excavators and come back to report but when they went away, the owners will come with different control boards and move the excavators away.

“So the soldiers reported that they had immobilized over 700 excavators and so we appointed someone to go round and check but when we went round, we found only about 150 to 200 excavators, the rest had been moved away.”

“There was an orchestration within the party and the government to get me out and when I left galamsey activities increased. Now things are coming up, and we know those who are doing galamsey even within the party and even people at the Jubilee House,” Professor Kwabena Frimpong Boateng disclosed.