General News of Wednesday, 7 September 2022
Source: www.ghanaweb.live
2022-09-07Aisha Huang's Ghana Card brouhaha: Mahama’s aide, Kofi Bentil call for NIA boss' head
Executive Secretary of the National Identification Authority, Professor Ken Attafuah
Joyce Bawah Mogtari, an aide to Former President John Dramani Mahama, has suggested that the Executive Secretary of the National Identification Authority (NIA), Professor Ken Attafuah, would have been sacked if the country was serious.
Her comment comes on the back of reports that Chinese galamsey kingpin, Aisha Huang, has been issued a Ghana Card but under the
Read full articlename Huang En.
“In a serious country, the National Identification Authority Boss would have been asked to resign or be sacked,” she tweeted on September 6.
Madam Bawah Mogtari is not the only one who has made such comments.
Vice President of IMANI Africa, Kofi Bentil, has also made such calls. In a Facebook post, he opined that the whole brouhaha surrounding Aisha Huang’s Ghana card pointed to the fact that the NIA boss “noise” was all a sham.
He has however said he will scrutinise information put out by NIA that it foiled attempts by Aisha Huang to reregister for Ghana Card using a different name.
“If we are serious, the boss of NIA will be sacked for giving Aisha a Ghana Card. It’s proof that all his noise and acts are a sham!!
“Edit. The head of NIA has given some answers. He says Aisha was given a foreigners ID card and the system caught her when she tried to re-register with another name. We will check and revert,” he wrote on his Facebook page.
Background
Chinese national and galamsey kingpin, Aisha Huang evaded immigration authorities and re-entered Ghana to conduct illegal business despite her controversial deportation in 2018.
Reports by Accra-based Citi News revealed that Huang despite last leaving by air, returned to Ghana via the eastern land border i.e. Togo.
Whilst the report is silent on when she first reentered and how many times she has been in and out of the jurisdiction, it turned out that she also used a different name on her return.
This was established with evidence that upon her return, Huang applied for and obtained the Ghana Card in February 2022 using the name "Huang En."
The year of issuance of the non-citizen Ghana Card has however been dismissed by NIA. The Authority has also confirmed in a statement that it has issued a non-citizen Ghana Card to Huang En.
The Citi News report added that she always sneaked out of Ghana when she got intelligence about the possibility of an arrest.
Despite coming in through Aflao, Aisha made the Ashanti Regional capital of Kumasi her base from where she engaged in the business of selling mining materials. She was arrested with other accomplices at Ahodwo in Kumasi.
On Monday, September 5, 2022, the Accra Circuit Court 9 presided by Samuel Bright Acquah, remanded Aisha Huang, into custody.
This was after Miss Huang, together with three other Chinese nationals, were brought before the court on charges including engaging in the sale and purchase of minerals without a license and mining without a license.
The court could not take into record the pleas of the four suspects because there was no interpreter to help translate proceedings for the Chinese nationals.
The accused persons were not represented by a lawyer. The court adjourned sitting on the case to Wednesday, September 14, 2022.
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