Chinese national Aisha Huang was jailed in 2023 for engaging in illegal mining
Outspoken media personality Okatakyie Afrifa-Mensah has claimed that the popular Chinese illegal mining kingpin, Aisha Huang, will soon be released by the John Mahama administration.
According to him, his sources indicate that shortly after her release, Aisha Huang will be flown out of the country to China.
Speaking on his For The Records show on Monday, April 7, 2025, monitored by GhanaWeb, the firebrand presenter alleged that the government’s plan to release Aisha Huang influenced recent comments made by the Minister for the Interior, Mohammed Mubarak Muntaka, regarding the government’s stance on foreigners involved in illegal mining.
“As I speak, whispers from the corridors of power indicate that Aisha Huang will be released soon. Take it from me. That is why the Interior Minister is setting the tone that the government is not interested in prosecuting foreign nationals involved in galamsey and will only deport such individuals. Hell broke loose when Osafo Maafo made a similar statement in the past, but today, the John Mahama government is saying that any foreign national arrested for engaging in galamsey will be deported without being prosecuted for destroying our water bodies and farmlands.”
The ‘galamsey queen’ was sentenced by an Accra High Court on Monday, December 4, 2023, to four and a half years in prison and fined GH₵48,000.
On April 4, 2025, Interior minister Muntaka Mubarak announced that the NDC government is not interested in prosecuting foreigners engaged in illegal mining and fraudulent activities in the country.
He stated that the government is implementing a new policy that will see the deportation of such individuals upon their arrest.
Speaking during an engagement with the Ashanti Regional Police Command, the Interior minister emphasized that the government is focused on removing foreign nationals involved in galamsey, which has caused extensive environmental destruction nationwide.
He also noted that foreign nationals arrested for engaging in scamming and other fraudulent activities will face the same penalty of deportation.
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