Muntaka Mubarak, the Minister for the Interior and Member of Parliament for Asawase has justified the Mahama government’s deportation of foreigners involved in illegal mining popularly known as galamsey.
According to Muntaka Mubarak, the deportation of galamsey foreigners more immediate and practical response.
He further revealed fingerprints and other biometric data of deportees would be captured and immigration officers would be assigned to escort them to their countries of origin.
He noted that the move is lawful and a necessary intervention to curb the escalating galamsey menace.
The sector minister made this justification at the commissioning of a two-storey office facility and a vehicle for the Ghana Immigration Service at Asante Mampong in the Ashanti Region.
Muntaka Mubarak stated, “The move is not arbitrary. Fingerprints and other biometric data of deportees are being captured, and trained immigration officers are assigned to escort them to their countries of origin, where they will be handed over to relevant authorities for any further legal action.”
He further explained that logistical challenges in detaining and prosecuting foreign offenders within Ghana’s justice system arguing that the country lacks the requisite infrastructure to hold foreign nationals awaiting trial.
Meanwhile, Ghanaian journalist, Manasseh Azure has criticized Ghanaian governments for showing bias in the fight against illegal mining (galamsey).
The celebrated journalist indicated that successive governments have chosen to be lenient with foreigners involved in galamsey, especially Chinese who destroy Ghana’s water bodies and land resources the most, while severely punishing Ghanaian illegal miners and those from other African countries.
According to Manasseh, the actions and inactions of governments are nothing short of racism being suffered by Ghanaians and Africans on their own continent.
In a post on X he wrote, “In 2021, my team applied to the Ghana Prisons Service and obtained data on inmates in Ghana’s prisons. The data included the nationality of the prisoners serving in Ghana’s prisons. It revealed that only ONE Chinese national was in our prisons.”
“His offence was not named. (Perhaps he committed a crime against a private person, even his fellow Chinese here). This was shocking because, years and months preceding our request for the information, hundreds of Chinese had been arrested for illegal mining in Ghana.”
“At the same time, hundreds of Ghanaians, Nigerians, Burkinabes, and other Africans were serving jail terms for illegal mining. In one instance reported in the news, the judge ordered that after serving their jail terms for illegal mining, the Nigerians jailed 20 years each should be deported,” he wrote on his X page.
Manasseh’s quest for justice and fairness comes after Minister of the Interior, Muntaka Mohammed-Mubarak in a meeting with the Ghana Police Service, announced the government will no more prioritize prosecuting foreigners involved in the crimes of galamsey and fraud.
Pledging to end the menace of galamsey and fraud, he stated, “We have resolved as a new policy that for two things if you’re caught in out forest doing galamsey or cutting down trees unlawfully or getting yourself into fraud activities that’s using computer or other fraud activities, for these 2 crimes if we arrest any foreigners we are not interested in prosecuting them. The first option is to take them back to their country.”
“Even though the government uses the term foreigners, Nigerians who commit crimes in Ghana are often arrested and prosecuted. But the Chinese who engaged in the destruction of our forests and water bodies and flout our laws are allowed to go back home and enjoy the wealth they make here. If this happened elsewhere, we would call it racism, but this is happening in Ghana,” he retorted.
