Aisha Huang
THE PRESIDENT, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, has waded into the debate about whether it was appropriate for the government to deport Chinese woman Aisha Huang, whose notoriety in illegal mining earned her a nickname – “Galamsey Queen”.
The President, at a town hall meeting at Princeton University in the United States, where he is attending a United Nation’s General assembly, said on hindsight that it was a mistake for the state to deport Aisha Hung without facing the full rigours of the law.
Midway into the trial of Aisha Huang and others for their involvement in illegal mining activities known in local parlance as “Galamsey”, the Attorney General’s Department filed a nolle prosequi before the trial court, and the ‘powerful’ Chinese woman was deported afterwards without any further delay.
The President said at Princeton that “I think the decision to deport Aisha Huang, on hindsight, was a mistake and that is why that process and procedure is being stopped.”
Attractive Continent
The President also said it was time for African governments and its people to work towards making the continent attractive for businesses that would lead to wealth creation. “The irony is that Africa should really not be in this conundrum. There are good reasons why we should be able to get ourselves
out of the hole and onto the path of hope and prosperity. Indeed, as the theme rightly states, the future is African and properly so.”
“There can be no argument that, properly harnessed, and efficiently and honestly managed, there are abundant resources on the continent to finance Africa’s development,” he stated.
He said modernizing agriculture would help the continent to develop rapidly, saying “food security for the African peoples would be assured and the billions currently spent on the importation of food would be freed to spend on other sectors like the serious deficit in infrastructure.”
President Akufo-Addo also said the empowerment of the youth through education in particular is key to an efficient labour force, saying “the empowerment of this young population, with access to education and skills training, would constitute a very powerful tool for economic development in Africa and the world.”
He also called on African leaders to intensify efforts towards industrialization, saying “you don’t need to be an optimist to acknowledge that Africa is where there is room for growth and the future is, indeed, African.”
“I must add that it is a matter of great pride for us that Ghana has been selected by her peers to play host to the secretariat of the afCFTa; the first time in our nation’s history we have been given the privilege and responsibility of hosting an important Pan-African institution,” he said.
By Gibril Abdul Razak