Group demands explanation for Helena Huang’s deportation

Environmental conservation NGO, A Rocha Ghana, is demanding an explanation from government over circumstances surrounding the deportation of Helena Huang, a Chinese national arrested with four containers of rosewood.

According to the group, the government's failure to prosecute Helena Huang sets a bad precedent for foreigners involved in the illegal lumbering of rosewood in the country.

Deputy Executive Director of A Rocha, Daryl Bosu said the law must be applied fairly without profiling or giving preferential treatment to some persons.

“So long as there is a prescription for an illegal activity in our laws, that is a criminal offence, the state needs to take the necessary actions to address it without profiling who is involved. It is an illegality and the state needs to pursue it to its conclusion,” he said.

According to the Immigration Service, Helena Huang was deported due to the revocation of her residence permit as a result of her involvement in an illegal business.

The government has been widely criticized especially on social media over the development especially after another Chinese, Aisha Huang was deported, after her engagement in illegal mining, without prosecution in Ghana.

Ghana’s Senior Minister was recently captured in the news making a statement to the effect that Aisha Huang did not face the law in Ghana for her activities because of a $2 billion infrastructural development deal Ghana has with China government with regards to the Sinohydro deal.

At a town hall meeting recently held in the US, Yaw Osafo Maafo said “we have a very good relationship with China. Today, the main company that is helping develop the infrastructure system in Ghana is Sinohydro, it is a Chinese Company. It is the one that is going to help process our bauxite and provide about two billion dollars to us.”

“So when there are these kinds of arrangements, there are other things behind the scenes. Putting that lady (Aisha) in jail in Ghana is not going to solve your economic problems. It is not going to make you happy or me happy, that’s not important, the most important thing is that she has been deported from Ghana…”

“…I am saying that there are many other things beyond what we see in these matters and everybody is wide awake, the most important thing is that we have banned this, we have established regulations and we are protecting our environment. That is far more important than one Chinese woman who has been deported out of the country”.