Vice President Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, has downplayed possible concerns the support Ghana is getting from China could compromise efforts against illegal mining, of which Chinese nationals are known to be heavily engaged in.
According to him, China is happy with Ghana’s clamp down on illegal mining, which has seen a significant number of Chinese nationals in Ghana arrested.
Dr. Bawumia was addressing the press after arriving from a four-day official visit to China, where Ghana, among other things, secured a funding facility worth up to $2 billion between a number of Ghanaian banks and the private sector, led by the Association of Ghana Industries (AGI).
“The issue of Galamsey is not a China matter. The issue is a galamsey matter and we deal with anybody who is involved in galamsey per our laws and the Chinese are very happy with us enforcing our laws,” the vice president stated.
“They [the Chinese] won’t tell us how to enforce our laws as we can’t tell them how to enforce their laws and I think the fight against galamsey is no respecter of persons regardless of where you come from… you are going to be dealt with the same.”
He added that, the Chinese “are very supportive of us dealing with the galamsey issue as per our laws and our laws are doing a wonderful job so far… I don’t think there is any link between the fight against galamsey and our support from China. China wants us to do the right thing.”
Chinese involvement with the state has been looked on with suspicion from the public given Chinese nationals have gained notoriety for involvement in illegal mining activities, with a significant number of them currently dealing with cases in the court of law.
High-profile donations made to the police and Attorney General’s office from Chinese, were met with criticism from the public with fears the donations could comprise law enforcement stakeholders.
These concerns are not without merit given that a former Minister of Lands and Natural Resources, Alhaji Inusah Fuseini, revealed pressure was put on him from Chinese officials in Ghana when he tried to fight against illegal mining.
According to Inusah Fusseini, the former Chinese Ambassador tried different methods to get him to ease up on the fight against illegal miners within the small-scale mining sector.
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(Via: CitiFM Online Ghana)
