A Private legal practitioner Sheila Minkah-Premo, has said she expected a harsher punishment for the Chinese National Aisha Huang who has been jailed for engaging in illegal small scale mining (Galamsey).
She described the punishment as a ‘bit lenient’.
The High Court presided over by Justice Lydia Osei-Marfo, on Monday, December 4 sentenced Aisha Huang to four years in prison after being found guilty of engaging in Galamsey.
She was also fined 48,000 Cedis.
The Court ruled that Aisah Huang did not have a license to undertake any mining activities.
Commenting on this on the Ghana Tonight show on TV3 Monday December 4, Madam Sheila Minkah-Premo said “I have followed the case a bit, in my view, I think the punishment is a bit lenient.
“I expected something heavier once she was found to be guilty. But I guess the judge gave her own reasons why the sentencing came as it is.”
Meanwhile, Deputy Attorney-General, Alfred Tuah Yeboah has indicated that apart from the case that involved Chinese National Aisha Huang, there are about 130 other galamsey-related cases that are being prosecuted across the country.
He said the state is committed to ensuring that all persons involved in the illicit small-scale mining activities are dealt with by the law.
“There are a lot of cases in court, some of them involving other Chinese nationals, there are cases in court involving Ghanaians, and now we have over 130 cases pending so Aisha Huang’s case is not the only case that we are prosecuting.
“We are prosecuting a whole lot of cases but maybe because of how Aisha Huang got into the system that is why her own is a different matter but we are committed to ensuring that those who have gone contrary to our laws in prospecting mining will be dealt with in accordance with the law,” he told TV3’s Joseph Ackah-Blay after the court hearing on Monday December 4.