Aisha Huang was no condition for Sinohydro deal – Lands Minister

The Minister for Lands and Natural Resources, Kwaku Asomah-Cheremeh has dismissed fears that the popular Chinese kingpin of illegal mining in Ghana Aisha Huang was released in exchange for the $2 billion Sinohydro deal between Ghana and China.

The fears have been occasions among Ghanaians following recent comments by the Senior Minister Yaw Osafo-Maafo.

“So, when there are these kinds of arrangements, there are other things behind the scenes. Putting that lady [Aisha] in jail in Ghana is not going to solve your economic problems. It is not going to make you happy or me happy, that’s not important, the most important thing is that she has been deported from Ghana…”

“…I am saying that there are many other things beyond what we see in these matters and everybody is wide awake, the most important thing is that we have banned this, we have established regulations and we are protecting our environment. That is far more important than one Chinese woman who has been deported out of the country,” the Senior minister said at a town hall meeting.

Reacting to the concerns Thursday, the lands minister told the media in Accra that “With respect to the 194 foreigners that have been deported, the exact figures dealing with them as per particular nationals cannot be given now but the nationals that have been deported include Chinese, Indians, Nigerians, Malians, and Burkinabes…So, it is not only Chinese that have been deported, neither is it only Aisha Huang that has been deported for purposes of Sinohydro loan or purposes of Sinohydro agreement that the government of Ghana has with the Chinese government. And we did not exchange her for the loan”.

The Chinese was put before the court on May 9, 2017, for engaging in illegal at Bepotenten in the Amansie Central District in the Ashanti Region but the trial came to an abrupt end after the attorney general filed to discontinue the case.