Information Minister Kojo Oppong Nkrumah says Ghanaians should focus on the prosecution of Chinese galamsey kingpin, Aisha Huang.

According to him, that is of the utmost benefit to the citizenry.

The Ofoase-Ayirebi legislator said government is resolved to ensure she is fully dealt with according to the law.

“The Attorney General has expressed clearly that under this new piece of legislation, Act 995, he is going to ensure that there is full prosecution.”

“The fact is she was repatriated from the Ghanaian jurisdiction. She found herself back in the Ghanaian jurisdiction. The security agencies did not go to bed. They arrested her, she is in custody. She has not been granted bail.”

“I think all of our national attention must go strongly to focus on that and to see that through and to get results for the people of Ghana,” Mr Oppong Nkrumah said.

His admonishment comes on the back of President Akufo-Addo’s comments that he is unsure if the accused was deported when initially arrested in 2017.

The President, in an interview on a Ho-based radio station on Monday, September 12, as part of his tour of the Volta Region, said he is not sure about how Aisha Huang left the country.

“I’m still not 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”, the President said.

President Akufo-Addo has since been severely criticised for his comment, which has been described, among others, as a “mockery” of the security architecture.

Aisha Huang stoked controversy when she was first arrested in 2017 for engaging in unlawful activity.

The 47-year-old Chinese national was subsequently deported in 2019 by the government, a move which triggered questions about Ghana’s commitment to eradicating the menace.

The announcement of her re-arrest within the country’s borders has since reignited this concern.

Details on her arrest

It has been alleged that a Ghanaian landlord of Aisha Huang, blew her cover after she returned to Ghana.

According to reports, she is said to have threatened the landlord with renting the house to another tenant when her rent had not expired.