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Dr Ken Ashigbey, the CEO of the Ghana Chamber of Mines, has swiftly responded to recent controversial remarks made by the Chinese Ambassador to Ghana, H.E. Tong Defa, regarding the illegal mining (galamsey) menace.

While the Ambassador suggested that Ghanaians are primarily to blame for facilitating illegal mining and that the practice might be impossible to eliminate, Dr Ashigbey, a strong anti-galamsey advocate, emphasised the need for accountability and collective action, cautioning against absolving foreign enablers in an interview on Joy FM on Friday, June 20.

“He [Chinese Ambassador] cannot run away from the fact that there are some Chinese individuals who are part of the illegality that is happening who would not even dare think about some of the things that you know they are doing in Ghana in China, and so there’s a role that he [Chinese Ambassador] has to play as we [Ghanaians] also have to play,” he stated.

He added, “Let me disappoint him. His Excellency, the President, the Minister for Lands and Natural resources and the IGP are bent on definitely winning the war against illegal mining and irresponsible mining, in which some of his kinsmen are sometimes complicit and involved; you will find out that if you look at the Operation Vangard data from all those days, the majority of the foreigners who are arrested are Chinese people.”

Ambassador Tong Defa, speaking at a media interaction in Accra on Thursday, June 19, argued that Chinese nationals involved in illegal mining are often migrant workers brought in by Ghanaians.

He stated, “I don’t understand why when people say ‘galamsey’, they equate it to Chinese,” he stressed.

“Actually, it is not Chinese. It didn’t originate from China. Chinese nationals cannot obtain licences or get permits. It is the Ghanaian people who throw the Chinese people over here.”

The Ambassador also asserted, “To my understanding, in this country, you can never eliminate those small mines. Those mines, you will have illegalities involved in them,” suggesting that policy efforts should focus on managing environmental pollution rather than outright eradication.

According to data from the Lands and Natural Resources Ministry, as of 2023, hundreds of Chinese nationals have been arrested and repatriated for illegal mining activities in Ghana over the past decade.

Among the culprits is galamsey kingpin En Huang, also known as Aisha Huang, jailed for four-and-a-half years in 2023 for engaging in illegal mining by the Accra High Court.

The jail term was in respect of offences she committed between 2015 and 2017 before she was first deported in 2018 following the Attorney-General’s decision to discontinue the case.

“Aisha Huang abused our (Ghana’s) kind hospitality extended to her during her initial trial stage when a nolle prosequi was filed and she was deported.

“She did not rest; she came back with a new personality, a different name and date of birth and carried on her illegal activities with impunity,” were the words of the judge, Justice Lydia Osei Marfo, prior to slapping Huang with the custodial sentence and a GH¢48,000 fine.

Critics of the Ambassador’s comments argue that while local complicity is undeniable, downplaying the role of foreign nationals could hinder efforts to curb the environmental devastation caused by galamsey, which has led to the pollution of over 60% of Ghana’s water bodies and extensive land degradation in major mining regions.