Aisha Huang pleads not guilty to charges of mining without license

Making an appearance at an Accra Circuit Court today, she pleaded not guilty to the two charges.

Ms. Huang is being tried on two charges by the state for engaging in sale and purchases of minerals without valid licence and Mining without licence.

Aisha Huang, who appeared with three others, spoke through an interpreter.

The court, according to reports, remanded her and the three accomplices.

The Chinese ‘galamsey’ queen has dominated the major news headlines for the past week after she was recaptured in the Ashanti Region.

Speaking on her re-arrest after her repatriation from Ghana in 2018, President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo said he isn’t aware of she was indeed repatriated.

Speaking in Ho, the President said he was not privy to the final details of the deportation.

“I’m not still sure whether she was in fact deported. Or whether she fled the country the first time and has now come back. There still seems to be some uncertainty about it.”

“But whichever way it is, she’s become the sort of nickname for all that galamsey represents”, he said.

Aisha Huang Pulse Ghana

“We have concerted to work at it. We need to have the coorporation of the courts. Until recently when I came, the punishment for people caught was relatively light. [But] we’ve changed the law to stiffen the punishment for people caught,” he added.

In his view, efforts to clamp down on illegal mining have seen a massive improvement under his watch as President.

The President, therefore, urged Ghanaians to sustain the momentum in dealing with the menace.

“The efforts have brought a lot of fruits first of all. Galamsey is now a subject of national discussion. Everywhere you go, there’s this matter of galamsey. We’ve at least achieved this purpose of heightening consciousness about it as an evil.”

The President had earlier stated his support for the prosecution of Ms. Huang.