Aisha Huang's exit: Tweeps mock Oppong-Nkrumah's 'defense' of Akufo-Addo's viral comment

Minister for Information, Kojo Oppong Nkrumah's bid to explain controversial comments by his boss, President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo elicited sharp reactions on Twitter.

Mr. Nkrumah has come under verbal attack following an attempt to clarify President Akufo-Addo’s comment that he did not know whether the galamsey businesswoman, Huang Ruixia alias Aisha Huang was deported or that se fled the country in 2018.

Akufo-Addo's comment

President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo despite giving his full support for Aisha Huang and other collaborators to be prosecuted, generated public discussions on September 13 when he suggested that there was uncertainty over whether indeed Huang was deported at all.

President Akufo-Addo, while speaking in an interview with Stone City Radio in Ho during his tour of the Volta Region, expressed uncertainty about the deportation of Aisha Huang in 2018.

"…I am not still sure whether she was, in fact, deported or whether she fled the country the first time and has now come back or whatever. There still seems to be some uncertainty about it," Akufo-Addo said.

"Whichever way it is, she has become a sort of nickname for all that the 'galamsey' represents and also, unfortunately, for the involvement of Chinese nationals in this illicit trade," the president continued.

Oppong-Nkrumah's defense

The comments attracted lots of reactions on social media for the better party of September 13. The Minister reacted to tweet by GhanaWeb citing his shock at the President's words.

He denied flatly that the president expressed uncertainty about Aisha's deportation and sought to explain that the comment bordered on the difference between deportation and repatriation.

His tweets read: Prez @NAkufoAddo has never said he isn't sure if Aisha Huang left Ghana. Please quote him well. He said he wasn't sure whether she was deported or she fled.

"The reason for the President's comment is that there is a difference between deportation and repatriation.

"While the Minister for Interior can deport, the Immigration Service cannot. The instrument which the Immigration Service uses in such circumstances is a repatriation notice. Either way, the effect was that she was caused to exit from Ghana at the material moment," he stressed.

Twitter reactions

Hardest worker.
We hail you. pic.twitter.com/aPypRktUDI

— #abonsamcartoons (@brightackwerh) September 13, 2022

The job hard bro????????????????

— Nii Aryertey (@niiaryerteygh) September 13, 2022

Ramos nie ????

— TARGET GLORYBWOY (@t_glorybwoy) September 13, 2022

???????????????????????? Mr @konkrumah, you can go and woke up the just passed #QueenElizabethII to give you an English words. To explain and defend what we heard from the @NAkufoAddo clear and loud. His words came under no threat or force.What u should be doing is apologizing to Ghanaians.

— Mawuli ATATSI.MCY (@MICTATSI) September 13, 2022

You can lie eeeii Internet does not forget ooo take a cue from Bawumia utterances and what it is doing to his reputation now

— Bridget Otoo slaying bag (@JeromeDesmond1) September 13, 2022

Ah well!, If the President mpo is not sure whether Aisha was deported or repatriated, whom my mine, an ordinary Ghanaian to know!

— Yaw Baffour (@AsareGyampoh) September 13, 2022

Meanwhile, speaking on the Morning Starr with Lantam Papanko, security analyst, Adam Bonaa indicated that President Akufo-Addo did not speak in Swahili so as to warrant an interpretation from the Minister for Information.

The security analyst added that the President is seen as the smartest person in the country and therefore when he speaks no appointee can come out to say he/she is smarter than the President.

“I understood him the way he spoke and I believe the majority of Ghanaians understood the way the President spoke. There is a reason why he is the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces and by extension the President of the republic. It is assumed that he is the smartest gentleman of the land.

“Kojo Oppong Nkrumah is not the President of the republic, if he speaks for the President then he should have authored those comments for the President. But after the President has spoken in a very clear and unambiguous language you don’t come back and tell me that you understand the President better than the rest of us,” Mr. Bonaa indicated.

He continued: “Aisha Huang is here if she was repatriated or deported. She is here and that is material at this moment. And so I would have wanted Kojo Oppong Nkrumah to tell us whether Aisha Huaug is here or she is not here. But, the evidence is clear that she is here and how long has she been present in this country? Those are the things we must know.”

Meanwhile, Chinese national Aisha Huang who re-appeared in court Wednesday, September 14, 2022 has pleaded not guilty to two charges at the Circuit Court in Accra.

The charges are engaging in sale and purchases of minerals without valid license and Mining without license.

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

EIB Network’s Court Correspondent Murtala Inusah reports that the court presided over by Samuel Bright Acquah is currently considering her bail application.

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