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Aisha Huang was notorious for illegal mining activities that destroy water bodies and the environment.<\/strong><\/em> <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
Responding\n to the questioner, the Senior Minister said Ghana has great diplomatic \nrelationship with China and intends to partner them in key \ninfrastructural projects citing the $2 billion Sinohydro deal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cToday,\n the main company that is helping develop the infrastructure system in \nGhana is Sinohydro, it is a Chinese Company. It is the one that is going\n to help process our bauxite and provide about $2 billion to us,\u201d he \nsaid.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“So,\n when there are these kinds of arrangements, there are other things \nbehind the scenes. Putting that lady [Aisha] in jail in Ghana is not \ngoing to solve your economic problems,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This response has been condemned.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A prominent figure in the fight against illegal mining has described the comment as a \u201cfatal blow\u201d to ending galamsey.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
However, the Office of the Senior Minister has moved to clarify. In a Facebook post, the Office made the following comments:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWhat\n he meant was that the matter of prosecution had been dealt by a court \nof competent jurisdiction and that Ghanaians should focus on the \neconomic gains of the government and how best we can consolidate the \ngains. The Akufo-Addo’s government is highly committed to the fight \nagainst GALAMSEY to the extent of establishing an inter-ministerial \ncommittee to deal with the worrying situation. However, there are \npertinent issues we should be looking at as a nation such as creation of\n employment for our teeming youth, industrialisation, infrastructural \ndeficit, domestic revenue mobilisation, emphasis on technical not \ngramarian education and how to sustain funding for governments policies \nand programmes. These were the issues Senior Minister was emphasising \ninstead of limiting the town hall meeting to the discussion of Aisha \nwhen the matter had been determined by the court. May God help us!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Aisha Huang<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Miss Huang<\/strong>\n was arraigned before court on May 9, 2017, for engaging in galamsey \nactivities at Bepotenten in the Amansie Central District in the Ashanti \nRegion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Senior\n journalist Abdul Malik Kweku Baako had said on MultiTV\/Joy FM\u2019s \nNewsfile show that she has video recordings of sexual encounters with \npowerful politicians and security capos which she uses for blackmail. <\/p>\n\n\n\n He said that enables her to wriggle herself out of the claws of the law. <\/p>\n\n\n\n According\n to him, her connections gives her the power to take people’s land at \nwill and mine as she pleases because the law is consistently held in \nabeyance for her, allowing her to act with impunity. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Subsequently, the Attorney General\u2019s office in December 2018 withdrew\n the case against her and four other Chinese nationals believed to be \nengaging in illegal mining. They were hurriedly repatriated to their \ncountry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n