Dada Joe“I am saying this with the backing of my flag bearer [Mr John Mahama] and my party that the NDC will trigger the extradition of Aisha Huang to face prosecution in a future NDC government”, he told Samson Lardy Anyenini on Accra-based Joy FM’s news analysis programme Newsfile on Saturday, 27 April 2019.
The Chinese ‘galamsey queen’ was deported by Ghana to her native home after being arrested for illegal mining-related offences.
Ghana’s Attorney General, however, filed a nolle prosequoi that discontinued her prosecution prior to her deportation.
A recent comment by Ghana’s Senior Minister Yaw Osafo-Maafo at a town hall meeting in the US to the effect that jailing Aisha Huang would not have ended Ghana’s problems, which he juxtaposed to a $2-billion bauxite-for-infrastructure deal between the government of Ghana and Chinese firm Sinohydro, got the opposition and civil society groups angry.
While the NDC insisted that Mr Osafo-Maafo merely spoke the mind of President Nana Akufo-Addo, civil society groups like OccupyGhana have demanded a retraction and apology from the former Finance Minister.
Also, the Media Coalition Against Small-Scale Mining has demanded explanations from the government about the deportation of Ms Huang.
However, speaking on Newsfile as well, the Editor-in-Chief of the New Crusading Guide, Abdul-Malik Kweku Baako said any extradition move by a future NDC government will be an exercise in futility.
According to him, the NDC is merely making political capital out of the senior minister’s gaffe with the extradition promise.
Source: Ghana/ClassFMonline.com
Dada Joe
