The Minister of Information Kojo Oppong Nkrumah has challenged the figures put out by former President Mahama as being Chinese nationals who faced deportation during his tenure in office.
Mr. Nkrumah says that cannot be true, as there is no record to authenticate such number of deportation during the term of the Former President.
Speaking in an interview on TV3, Mr. Mahama said he had to deport almost 5,000 illegal Chinese miners and Boeing 747s were deployed by the Chinese government then to specially airlift its nationals back home.
Stressing such deportations did not impair the relationship between Ghana and China, he was on the view that the rule of law must prevail.
“I deported almost 5,000 illegal Chinese miners. I didn’t say because of the good relation we have with China, we should allow them to continue to engage in illicit activities and we collaborated with the Chinese Embassies, they got 747s and they came and took their nationals away.
However, the information Minister says those figures cannot be true and at best the former president is putting together repatriations and deportation which are different.
In an interview with Accra based Joy FM, the Ofoase Ayirebi Member of Parliament said, out of the 5000 claimed by Mahama, only a thousand were deported.
“Technically when you say deportation, it means something and there are some things that go alongside it. You notice for example that the former president has been suggesting that on his watch, 5,000 Chinese were deported.
“But technically, that is not true because deportations were just about a thousand (1,000) but yes about 4,000 people left the Ghanaian jurisdiction many of them repatriated, some voluntarily, some fled…you put it together, it is close to about 5,000. So it is not true 5,000 deportations. He added.
He added that the former president will be exposed if he holds on to the figure as deportation as it includes repatriation.
“If you hold on to “deportation”, the Former President will be held or fact-checked that no, that’s not correct,” Kojo Oppong Nkrumah said.
source: theGhanaianvoice.com
