With growing concerns about the activities of Aisha Huang, a notorious Chinese lady aka the ‘galamsey queen’ in Ghana, President Akufo-Addo says he is not sure that she was initially deported from the country.
According to him, her re-emergence raises concerns about whether she left Ghana in the first place.
Speaking on a Ho-based radio station, as part of his tour of the Volta Region, he expressed reservation about the nefarious activities of Aisha Huang and affirmed his support for her prosecution.
“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.
“But whichever way it is, she’s become the sort of nickname for all that galamsey represents”, he said.
“We have concerted to work at it. We need to have the coorporation of the courts. Until recently when I came, the punishment for people caught was relatively light. [But] we’ve changed the law to stiffen the punishment for people caught,” he added.
The president said as part of his concerted effort to fight the galamsey menace, he has got the law amended to make the punishment stiffer for offenders.
However, the president’s disclosure that he is unable to say authoritatively if Aisha was deported in 2018 as was widely reported has got many tongues wagering.
Some analysts are in shock that the president who is also the commander in chief of the Ghana Armed Forces and receives regular briefings from security chiefs would not have such basic information, on a matter which was topical both nationally and internationally.
Others have indicated that the president’s comment only lend credence to claims by North Tongu MP, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa who was of the view that due process was not followed in the purported deportation of Aisha Huang.
SOURCE theghanaianvoice.com
