Environmentalist petition AG, IGP to publish list of foreign nationals arrested for illegal mining
A petition by an Environmental Activists has been presented to the Attorney General and Minister of Justice and the Inspector General of Police to make public the number of foreign nationals who have been apprehended due to illegal mining and the countries they are from.
The concerns raised by the Ghana Environmental Advocacy group and A Rocha Ghana in the petition were sparked from a revelation made by an online news portal, The Fourth Estate that per its finding there are only two Chinese nationals since 2012 that are currently serving their term in jail for engaging in illegal mining despite the numbers arrested in the fight against illegal mining.
“To read that those arrested end up quietly deported to their home countries with their loot without any further consequences while the state and local communities are left to reel under the weight of the environmental degradation they leave behind is both unconscionable and irresponsible,” parts of the petition read.
These issues have come up again after news of the re-arrest of Aisha Huang whose acts of engaging in illegal mining activities that destroy Ghana’s environment led to her deportation in 2018 which president Akufo-Addo later said was a mistake.
In February 2022, as she arrived following her earlier deportation, she acquired a Ghana card bearing the name Huang En.
