Aisha Huang and the four state institutions who have questions to answer

Many have blamed some key institutions connected to the subject for failing to do their job which could have averted the return of the galamsey kingpin.

These institutions are the National security, NIA, immigration and the Office of the Attorney General.

In this piece, GhanaWeb takes a look at the loopholes and what roles these institutions could have played to avoid this situation.

National Security

One of the institutions that have been blamed by many experts and Think tanks is the National Security.

Many have suggested that the National Security which is the biggest institution in charge of securing Ghana’s safety and security failed in its duty to ensure the deported kingpin does not have access to the country.

As an intelligence agency, the National Security should have ensured that En Huang, also known as Aisha Huang had her bio details flagged the moment she was deported and communicated it to all institutions across the country to ensure any subsequent attempts to re-enter the country would easily be detected.

Security Analyst, Adam Bonaa for instance suggested this in an interview with GhanaWeb’s Nimatu Yakubu.

“The state security agencies could have everted this by ensuring that her bio details were flagged on our national database in terms of ID Bases so that person like her who wants a re-entry in this country will be picked up even before they attempt to enter the country,” he said.

Immigration

The Ghana Immigration Service is also one of the biggest institutions whose roles in this issue have been questioned.

The Ghana Immigration Service is mandated to regulate and monitor the entry, residence, employment and exit of all foreigners. They are also required to monitor the movement of Ghanaians into and out of the country as well as detect and stop threats at entry points.

Among questions that have been raised, is one about how Aisha Huang re-entered the country, having spent weeks in the country before being arrested in the Ashanti Region.

While narrations about her re-entry are still scanty, there have been some contradictions between that of the Immigration Service and that of a government spokesperson on National Security, Palgrave Boakye Danquah.

While the Immigration Service says the deportee entered Ghana through an illegal border route, Government’s Spokeperson indicated, according to a citinews report that Aisha entered through the legal route but with forged documents.

The contradiction in itself raises concerns about what the Immigration Service may be trying to cover up (if any) in all of this but while that lingers, some persons have suggested that head of the Service must answer or be sacked.

Security Analyst, Adam Bonaa, in a GhanaWeb interview said heads must roll and Controller General of the Ghana Immigration Service (GIS) Kwame Asuah Takyi must answer to questions being raised considering the many loopholes that have been left in the system leading to the re-arrest of Aisha Huang in the country.

He said the immigration service has been very negligent.

"I have asked for the boss of the immigration service, Mr Takyi to be relieved of his duty. He is tired, he is supposed to be going on retirement and he has been given two-year contract, two years to do what? To superintend under the mess? I have called for him to be sacked because a lot of the things don't add up,” he quizzed.

Executive Director of the African Center for Security and Counter-Terrorism, Emmanuel Kutin, on his part described the latest arrest as national security threat and embarrassment to the nation in the diplomatic circle.

He called on the appointing authority to fire the Comptroller General of the Ghana Immigration Service (GIS) Kwame Asuah Takyi over the second-coming of Galamsey queen, Aisha Huang, into the country.

National Identification Authority

Many have questioned the database of the NIA following Aisha Huang’s ability to renew her non-citizen Ghana Card.

Despite their commendable role in raising alarm following the detection of irregularities in her documents following her attempt to create a new card, other concerns have been raised.

The NIA in a statement following reports of her acquisition of a Ghana Card sought to clarify that Aisha’s card was from 2014 and not 2016.

Among other things, the NIA indicated that Aisha was not given a new Ghana Card and the card in her possession is not a Citizen card.

The question however is how that Aisha was able to renew a Ghana Card which had previously been renewed twice in 2016 and also in 2018 after she acquired it in 2014.

The old Ghana Card which had been done under the John-Mahama government however had been entirely scrapped by the new Akufo-Addo government when they came into office in 2017.

The registration of new ones then was announced and President Akufo-Addo acquired a copy of his in 2017. Following this, registration began and new cards were created.

Per the NIA’s narrative, Aisha Huang renewed her card from 2014, the concern then will be how she was able to renew a card that is not existing anymore.

Office Attorney General

Many are of the view that if the state had prosecuted Aisha Huang, she would not have returned to the country to again engage in illegal mining.

In 2018, she was charged with undertaking small-scale mining operations contrary to Section 99 (1) of the Minerals and Mining Act, 2006 (Act 703) and providing mine support services without valid registration with the Minerals Commission, contrary to Section 59 and 99 (2) of the Minerals and Mining Act.

The state however discontinued the case and opted for deportation rather than prosecuting her. The then Senior Minister, Osafo Maafo had tried to give reason that her prosecution will not benefit Ghana or Ghanaians. Rather he said, her deportation will ensure the matter is brought to rest as well as secure the good relations between Ghana and China and especially because at the time, the Ghana was trying to secure the 2bn-dollar Sinohydro loan.

Background

Aisha Huang was recently arrested for engaging in galamsey-related activities. She is reported to have entered the country via the Togo boarder after her deportation.

Aisha Huang has since been remanded by an Accra High Court and is set to reappear with three others on September 14.

The Attorney General’s office has also assured that it will prosecute Aisha Huang for her past and present crimes.

It will be recalled that Aisha Huang gained notoriety as an illegal mining kingpin in 2017. She was arrested for the same conduct but later deported with the state discontinuing the trial against her.

Justifying why the state had to deport the Chinese national, the Senior Minister, Nana Yaw Osafo Maafo, addressing some concerns of Ghanaians in the diaspora at a town hall meeting on April 18, 2019, revealed that, "Putting that woman [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."

But President Akufo-Addo in 2019 said the deportation of the Chinese galamsey kingpin was a ‘mistake’.

NYA/WA