Western Regional Minister explains why he responded to 'missing GH¢17m galamsey money’ post

The Western Regional Minister, Kwabena Okyere Darko-Mensah, has explained why he responded to a social media post by GHOne TV about a regional minister fainting after a driver stole his GH¢17 million even though his name was not mentioned in the post. The post by GHOne TV reported that a regional minister collapsed after his driver bolted away with the stated amount, said to be proceeds from illegal mining (galamsey). "A Regional Minister collapses as his driver bolts with 17 million cedis galamsey proceeds. Driver is reported to be in Ivory Coast at the moment," parts of the post by GHOne read. Responding to this post, Kwabena Okyere Darko-Mensah denied any link to the report. In a press statement, he said that the news linking him to the report is bent on tarnishing his hard-won reputation. "This news alert appears to cast an innuendo on my person. It is therefore not strange that for those who are still bent on tarnishing my hard-won reputation and to distract me from executing my official duties in service to the people of my region including my unrelenting fight against illegal mining in the region, they have jumped onto this news alert to further their sinister objectives," parts of the statement noted. Speaking in an interview on Asempa FM on October 19, 2022, which was monitored by GhanaWeb, Okyere Darko-Mensah said that he had to respond because he had issues with some parts of the post. He added that he had spoken to the Chief Executive Officer of the EIB Network, Nathan Kwabena Anokye Adisi, a.k.a. Bola Ray, to get the matter resolved. "You see, when people are not sure of things, they should not disgrace people or create funny impressions in the minds of people. Because somebody may not even verify the facts and accept the allegations that are being made, which will create problems for you. "That is why we had to tackle it so that next time people will think twice before making allegations. "If you look at the second part of the post, there is something in it that we dealing with. After the post was shown to me, I contacted Bola Ray and he said he will cross-check the facts and get to me. And so, we are waiting," he said in Twi. You can also watch this episode of People & Places on GhanaWeb TV: IB/BOG