Senior Minster honest with comment on Aisha Huang – Nunoo-Mensah

A former Chief of Defense Staff of the Ghana Armed Forces, Joseph Nunoo-Mensah, says comments made by the Senior Minister, Yaw Osafo Maafo, about Ghana’s decision to discontinue a legal action against Chinese national Aisha Huang were honest.

Addressing a town hall meeting in the US, the Senior Minister told Ghanaians there was the need for Ghana to maintain a good relationship with China, explaining the two countries have partnered on several developmental projects including the $2 billion Sinohydro deal.

Mr Osafo Maafo was responding to question on why Ghana had to discontinue the court case against Aisha Huang, popularly known as a galamsey queen.

The former Finance Minister explained that the country had to be mindful not to jeopardise its diplomatic relations with China.

“Today, the main company that is helping develop the infrastructure system in Ghana is Sinohydro...a Chinese company. It is the one that is going to help process our bauxite and provide about $2 billion to us,” he said.

“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,” he added.

His comments were met with public outrage and fury, attracting criticisms with some demanding his dismissal.

But Brigadier General Nunoo-Mensah thinks the Senior Minister was only being honest.

“I’m not surprised, he gave a very honest answer,” he stressed. “Today, we [Ghanaians] are in a very poor state for Ghana to be where we are today, we have no backing power.”

The former Presidential Security Advisor was speaking said on TV3’s New Day Wednesday.

According to him, Ghana as a country is in a situation where there are no many choices to make aside seeking aid from countries like China and the US, noting that he finds this disheartening as a citizen of the country.

“It saddens me that Ghana today we are so poor and so weak that Ghana has no choice. We are begging everybody, we are begging China, we are begging [United States of] America,” he added.

He observed honesty among Ghanaians has been compromised, noting there are always complaints about the economy whether it is the National Democratic Congress (NDC) or the New Patriotic Party (NPP) which is in power.

“We don’t say the truth, we Ghanaians, we had the NDC government not long ago, just over two years, they said they were not good and now NPP came in [power] we are just like jumping from frying pan to fire,” he noted.