It has emerged that Aisha Huang, a Chinese National who gained popularity following her involvement in illegal mining activities, known in the local parlance as galamsey, is back in town and currently in police grips.
According to reports Aisha has been re-arrested, together with three others Jong Li Huang, Huang Jei and Huiad Hua are facing trial over their alleged involvement in illegal small-scale mining activities. This is her second arrest in connection with the offence.
It will be recalled that Aisha, in 2017, was arrested, arraigned and charged with undertaking small-scale mining operations contrary to Section 99 (1) of the Minerals and Mining Act, 2006 (Act 703), among other charges, and subsequently deported in 2018.
In a latest development, Aisha is facing trial again over charges of engaging in sale and purchases of minerals without license, as well as mining without license.
According to reports, Aisha “sneaked†into the country having changed the details on her Chinese passport.
It said Aisha resumed small-scale mining activities without a licence and further engaged in the purchase and sale of minerals in Accra without valid authority as granted by the Minerals and Mining Act.
The prosecution said she engaged in the sale and purchase of minerals with the three accused persons, and that intelligence led to their arrest.
Aisha is said to have made her first appearance in court (after her re-arrest) on Friday, September 2, 2022 but could not have her plea heard due to unavailability of a Chinese interpreter and hence remains in police custody.
She, thus, made her second appearance today, September 5, 2022.
Hearing the case today, the three suspects pleaded not guilty in court to a charge of engaging in sales and purchases of minerals without license.
Aisha was however absent when the case was called.
Presiding judge, Samuel Bright Acquah remanded the suspects into custody to reappear before the court on September 14, 2022.
In 2018, the then Senior Minister, Nana Yaw Osafo Maafo, justified the decision to discontinue her trial.
Justifying why the state had to deport the Chinese national, the Senior Minister, addressing some concerns of Ghanaians in the diaspora at a town hall meeting on April 18, 2019, revealed that, “Putting [Aisha Huang] in jail in Ghana is not going to solve your money problem. It is not going to make you happy or me happy.”
“We have a very good relationship with China. The main company that is helping develop the infrastructure system in Ghana is Sinohydro; it is a Chinese Company. It is the one that is going to help process our bauxite and provide about $2 billion to us. So when there are these kinds of arrangements, there are other things behind the scenes. There are many other things beyond what we see in these matters, and everybody is wide awake. The most important thing is that we established regulations and we are protecting our environment. That is far more important than one Chinese woman who has been deported back to her country,” he explained further.
Fast forward to September 20, 2019, President Nana Akufo-Addo described the deportation of Miss Huang as a mistake.
“I think the decision to deport Aisha Huang in hindsight was a mistake, and that is why that process and procedure is being stopped,” he said at a forum at Princeton University during his visit to the United States of America.
Source: The Independent Ghana