Aisha HuangÂ
Illegal mining (Galamsey) kingpin, En Huang, popularly known as Aisha Huang, yesterday burst into tears again while under cross-examination by the Director of Public Prosecution (DPP), Yvonne Atakora Obuobisa.
The prosecutor was asking Aisha questions regarding her decision to apply for a new non-citizen Ghana Card under the name Huang Ruixia knowing very well that she already had a card under the name Aisha Huang.
Mrs. Obuobisa had also confronted the accused with the fact that she knew she was prohibited from returning to Ghana without the express consent of the Comptroller General of the Ghana Immigration Service, adding that “even when you knew your stay in Ghana was illegal, you still went ahead to obtain a non-citizen Ghanaian card.”
The accused, in her response, told the court that when she was repatriated in 2018 she was not told when she could return “so after staying in China for a long time I thought it was ok for me to return that was why I came back.”
“You came back to Ghana so you could continue your illegal activity in Ghana. Isn’t it?” the DPP asked, and the accused said “It is not so.”
It was at this point that Aisha Huang began sobbing in the courtroom to the dislike of the presiding judge, Justice Lydia Osei Marfo, who would have none of it after warning the accused last week not to cry in the courtroom again.
“It is better she recomposes herself and stop interjecting it with tears. This question is so harmless. Just answer and go. That is why you are always represented by lawyers,” the judge indicated.
“Today should be the last time you cry in my court. If you want to cry, cry in prison before you come. That is disrespectful to the court. Is somebody beating you?” Justice Marfo warned.
Mrs. Obuobisa then continued the cross-examination and accused Aisha of being untruthful with the court when she stated that she returned to Ghana sometime in July last year because there was evidence before the court that the accused had obtained a COVID-19 vaccination certificate on April 24, 2022.
“My Lady, I didn’t remember exactly the date I came back. It was when I came back that I went for the vaccination. I said July because in my memory I thought it was July,” Aisha responded.
The DPP also put it to Aisha that she went all the way to Tamale in the Northern Region to obtain both the non-citizen Ghana Card and the COVID-19 vaccination certificate although she was living at Ahodwo in the Ashanti Region upon her return to Ghana in order to avoid detection by authorities.
Below is an excerpt of what happened between the DPP and the accused during the cross-examination.
DPP: I put it to you that your application for a Ghana Card as a new applicant was still one of the ways that you used to continue to remain in Ghana illegally.
Aisha: To the best of my knowledge, every foreigner in Ghana must apply for the Ghana Card, that was why I applied for the Ghana Card.
DPP: In fact, it was when your biometrics were being taken that the National Identification Authority office in Tamale realised that the biometric of Huang Ruixia was the same as one En Huang in their system.
Aisha: When I was applying there was an incident, so I explained to the officer in charge that my old passport had the name of En Huang and my new passport has the name Huang Ruixia. The officer told me that I can go to the court to change the name but I didn’t know the actual proceedings to follow to do that.
DPP: You are being untruthful to the court because in exhibit Y (immigration application form) you filled out an application form in the name of En Huang even though you had not changed your name from Huang Ruixia back to En Huang.
Aisha: When I was applying the officer said the name in the system cannot be different from what is on the form, so I used En Huang.
DPP: All you have said is not true because you already had a Ghana Card which had expired and all you needed to do was to have renewed it rather than going with a different identity i.e. a different name, different date of birth, different place of birth as a new applicant.
Aisha: That would have resulted in a different name in my passport and a different name on my Ghana Card. That was why the officer said I needed to go to court to apply for a change of name.
BY Gibril Abdul Razak