He alleged that the president and his government have no intention of prosecuting Aisha Huang but are interested in striking a deal with the Chinese government on Aisha Huang and other arrested Chinese illegal miners.
“The president is known to be a man to have the memory of an elephant, meaning he never forgets, and so I think he is playing a game… I believe that this is a poker game that the president is playing.
“He is trying to force the hand of the Chinese Consulate or the ambassador to the table to negotiate Aisha’s situation. Because it will probably be better not to prosecute Aisha Huang but rather negotiate it so that Ghana can maximize its position, going back to Osafo-Maafo’s position that Ghana is in need of money,” he said in a TV3 interview monitored by GhanaWeb.
The security analyst also refuted assertions that the president’s comment on Aisha Huang’s deportation was because he did not remember the events that happened in 2018.
“I don’t believe that the president forgot it. I believe that this is a poker game. This is an intentional flip. This president is very very crafty when it comes to getting deals for Ghana,” he added.
Speaking in an interview on Stone City Radio in Ho, during his tour of the Volta Region, which GhanaWeb monitored, Akufo-Addo expressed uncertainty about whether Aisha Huang was deported.
According to the president, it is likely that the 'galamsey' queen was never deported but fled the country in 2018.
"… I am not still sure whether she was, in fact, deported or whether she fled the country the first time and has now come back or whatever. There still seems to be some uncertainty about it.
"Whichever way it is, she has become a sort of nickname for all that the 'galamsey' represent and also, unfortunately, for the involvement of Chinese nationals in this illicit trade," he said.
But the president, in 2019, said that his government’s decision to deport Aisha Huang without prosecuting her was wrong.
Watch the latest episode of The Lowdown below:
IB/BOG
Aisha Huang (left), Akufo-Addo (right)