A Security Analyst, Adib Saani has said the decision by Blay & Associates, the law firm of the former National Chairman of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Mr Freddie Blay to defend four accomplices of Aisha Huang, who was arrested for her alleged involvement in illegal small-scale mining, in court is not wrong.
He explained that Ghana is a country that is governed by Rule of Law and everybody deserves a fair representation in court.
But, he said, the the decision of Mr Blay to defend the accomplices smacks of lack of principles.
Adib Saani said on the Ghana Tonight show with Alfred Ocansey on TV3 Tuesday October 11 that it fuels speculations that there are powerful people involved in the illegal small scale mining (Galamsey).
“He has not done anything wrong, we are a country that is governed by the Rule of Law, everybody has the right to a presentation. However, I think his action lack principles,” he said.
He added “I am a businessman, on a daily basis I get a lot of calls, I do GPS tracking for security reasons but there are certain situations people approach you because they want to track their spouses and I am forced to reject it because mine is meant for security purposes. Even though man must feed, you have to put before you principles before anything. His acceptance to defend the individuals only adds to the deep suspicion people have about the involvement of certain powerful in the whole galamsey quagmire.”
On Tuesday, October 11, it came to light in court that Blay & Associates is representing the suspects.
This attracted flak from persons including Director of Legal Affairs of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) Abraham Amaliba, who indicated that “On this matter of ‘galamsey’, considering the fact that there are accusations and fingers pointing at government officials to be complicit in this ‘galamsey’ issue, if you have government lawyers, already Nkrabeah Effah Dartey is known to be connected with the NPP, now to have the immediate past Chairman of the NPP joining forces to defend these ‘galamseyers’, it gives the impression that yes government, as it were, is not interested in fighting the menace”.
But in a statement responding to these concerns, Blay & Associates said: “It has come to our attention that there has been some misconceptions and the deliberate misconstruction of our decision to represent our clients in the case of the Republic Vs Shi Yang, Shi Meizhi, Li Wei Zuo and another (Our Client), we as a firm will like to clarify these issues.
“To us, it would seem that our clients are collateral victims of a matter that is of great national concern. We understand the deep seated anger and sentiment on any story on illegal mining evokes in Ghanaians. Even worse is when those accused are foreign nationals because of the extensive degradation and pollution of water bodies laid at their door steps.
“At Blay & Associates however, we believe in the inviolability of the judicial system. Blay & Associates is a firm that seeks to promote justice, ensure fair trial and seek to give fair representation.
“We as firm believers in our great 1992 Constitution of Ghana agreed to defend these clients having in mind these principles.”
