“I’m not still sure whether she was in fact deported. Or whether she fled the country the first time and has now come back. There still seems to be some uncertainty about it’’ – President Nana Akufo-Addo.
Whiles speaking at a radio station, during his two-day tour of the Volta Region, President made a statement on the ongoing brouhaha of Aisha Huang’s re-emergence and her subsequent re-arrest in the country. As quoted above, he gave an indication of his own bankruptcy of the facts pertaining to the status of the galamsey ‘queenpin’ after her deportation in 2018.
A brief history
Aisha Huang has been a menace to our country. Deeply involved and sometimes described as the mastermind of a chain of galamsey activities across the breadth of the country, Aisha had gained notoriety as the ‘big untouchable woman’ behind the scenes. But her face showed, and the whole country cheered our security services after Aisha was arrested in 2018.
A prosecution was well imminent, at least Ghanaians expected. Until the Former Senior Minster said that ‘‘putting (Aisha Huang) in jail in Ghana is not going to solve your money problem…the most important thing to do is to deport her…and there many other things beyond what we see in these matters’’. So Aisha Huang avoided prosecution but was deported.
Her re-arrest and matters arising.
On Monday, September 5, an Accra Circuit Court remanded Aisha Huang and two others into custody. The accused persons were charged for engaging in the sale and purchase of minerals without a license.
The aftermath of this has been up-heaving stories and propaganda on the nature of her works, including a theory that suggested she was a Chinese spy, sent to destroy the value of our cocoa in a fast-growing competitive industry, the ‘big names’ behind her, and how Aisha Huang had ‘sex tapes of some big men’ but one question that has not been conclusively answered is whether Aisha Huang was truly deported or not.
In a post, the MP for North Tongu, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa claimed in an ‘explosive finding’ that Aisha Huang was not escorted out of the country as required by international best practice, and no evidence was adduced to back claims that China would be displeased by her prosecution as suggested by Former Senior Minister, Yaw Osafo-Maafo in 2018.
But what did the President have to say?
Refer to the first paragraph. It is not so important that most Ghanaians cannot give a certain recount of the facts surrounding the works of Aisha Huang, her arrest, deportation, and re-arrest. Some issues are clearly a matter of national security. But what does it mean for the Commander-in-Chief to also not have full facts about such a serious issue on not just the destruction of natural waters, and exploitation of our ‘gullibility and natural resources, but a glaring threat to our national security? This is especially gross when the words of his Senior Minister are easily referenced in this issue, looking at how those words influenced the outcome of the case in 2018.
Illegal mining or as we know it, galamsey has caused tremendous damage to our water bodies, dismantled every possible prospect of sustainability in the environment, led to huge loss of lives, deprived the country of much-needed revenue, and continues to plague us in many more ways unmentioned. The President cannot be heard to suggest a lack of knowledge of facts in such a monumental case, lest he savors the perpetration of growing thoughts and ‘propaganda’ of his inability to deal with the canker because ‘it is close to home’ as suggested by Former President, John Mahama.
