Capt. Koda demands apology, retraction from Frimpong Boateng

A security capo at the Jubilee House, Edmund Kwadwo Koda (Captain Koda – retired), has demanded a retraction and an apology from the former Minister of Environment, Science, Technology & Innovation (MESTI), Prof. Kwabena Frimpong-Boateng, in respect of “false and malicious” claims linked to him in his galamsey report.

A demand notice served by his lawyers, Prempeh and Co, gave Prof. Boateng one-week ultimatum to render an apology with the same prominence given to “the offensive report”.

It stressed that failure to do that would compel them to commence legal action against the former Minister to vindicate Capt. Koda’s name, and also to recover punitive damages for those allegations in the report.

Without basis

The demand notice claimed that Prof. Boateng’s report was written without any basis, noting that “it is a figment of the former Minister’s own imagination calculated to impugn and/or discredit Capt. KODA’s enviable reputation and integrity”.

“Your callous and careless statements and comments, particularly where you stated that “…l was expecting people such as… Capt. Koda and others like them, who knew the President better and certainly had his interests and success at head, to support the fight against illegal mining…” have maligned the reputation of our client and subjected him to public mockery, opprobrium, and odium,” portions of the demand notice read.

The notice added: “It is the instructions of our client that, on page 29 of your report on the work of the Inter-Ministerial Committee on Illegal Mining (hereinafter referred to as IMCIW), which you submitted to the Presidency, you stated that frantic telephone calls were received from Capt. Koda of the Presidential Security detail, who asked for the excavators to be released”.

However, the demand notice explained that Capt. KODA informed the taskforce that the owner of the concessions, “George Kwame Aboagye, the MP for Asene Akroso is his brother… allegations you knew at the time of Kiting to be false and malicious”.

Contrary claims

The demand notice insisted that “our instructions are flat, contrary to your claim, our client supported your effort in combating illegal mining”.

It also revealed that on May 16, 2019, based on intelligence Prof. Boateng gathered, Capt. Koda sent “you a private message to notify and provide you with all the details of the perpetrators of some illegal mining activity at Old Ayaase, Adansi, in the Fomena constituency”.

It disclosed that Prof. Boateng acknowledged receipt of the said information, insisting that “apart from the above, our client has made other interventions to curb the illegal mining menace unbeknownst to you”.

The demand notice stressed that at no point in time did Capt. Koda interfere in the work of the IMCIM, and deemed the former Minister’s accusations quite startling and unwarranted.

“In the circumstances, we have the firm instructions of our client to demand from you, which we hereby do, that you retract these baseless allegations contained in your report against our client, and further render an apology with the same prominence given to the offensive report within One (I) Week of receipt of this letter…failing which we have our clients instructions to commence legal action against you to vindicate his name and also to recover punitive damages for those false and malicious statements in your report, and the cost of the action without further recourse to you. Kindly be advised,” the demand notice indicated.