Political Scientist, Dr. John Osae-Kwapong, says there is a general decline in the level of trust in state institutions in the country.

According to him, the failure of government officials to provide information to the public and to do so timeously has largely contributed to the high levels of mistrust in the country.

He said recent calls for a probe into the supposed deportation of Chinese national and galamsey kingpin, En Huang popularly known as Aisha Huang is a manifestation of the said mistrust in state institutions.

Speaking on JoyNews’ Newsfile Saturday, Dr. Osae-Kwapong said, “One of the things you’d find is that there is also a trust issue when it comes to our governance institutions.

“So over time if you look at the percentage of Ghanaians who say they trust institutions, whether it’s the court, whether it’s Parliament, whether it’s the police, whether it’s the Presidency, you see very low levels of trust and then also declining levels of trust.

“So in such an environment, if information is not provided and provided rapidly, such narratives tend to grow and perpetuate and persist.”

He noted that particularly in the case of Aisha Huang what is even fuelling the mistrust is the fact that she was able to return into the country undetected and engage in the same illegal activity that had gotten her deported in the first place.

 “I think all of those things deepens that suspicion and deepens that mistrust of the very state institutions that are supposed to enforce the law around whether it is illegal mining, whether it is immigration issues, and all of that.

“So I think that mistrust, and knowing that someone deemed to have broken the laws of Ghana was able to come back is what is actually fueling this narrative that probably she didn’t even leave etc. But as shown there are records of the deportation order, there’s evidence that she boarded an Ethiopian Airlines flight etc but in an environment of mistrust it’s very difficult for state institutions to get citizens to believe them even when they’re telling them the truth,” he said.

Ranking Member on Parliament’s Foreign Affairs Committee, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, has asked for a full scale probe into circumstances leading to the deportation of Aisha Huang, the Chinese national who is currently in the grips of National Security for illegal mining.

Alarmed that such a suspicious character outwitted the security agencies, Mr. Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa said “At this point, we are very doubtful. It is clear that she has very deep roots and she has allies up there in high places who are helping her to beat the system.

"This is why we insist that the only way to unravel the Aisha Huang debacle is to have a full-scale probe into this matter.

"We must have an independent investigation to know if truly she was deported, where was she deported to. China or Togo?” he quizzed.