Data from the Ghana Immigration Service (GIS) has revealed that former President John Dramani Mahama has not been truthful with Ghanaians on the deportation of Chinese nationals engaged in illegal mining during his presidency.
Speaking in an interview with Accra-based TV3 on Monday, the former president claimed he deported almost 5,000 Chinese nationals who were engaged in illegal mining activities popularly known as “galamsey”.
However, veritable evidence emerging indicate that just a little over 1,000 were deported in the eight years of Mills/Mahama administration.
Former President Mahama made the claim when he commented on the recent re-arrest of Chinese galamsey Kingpin, Aisha Huang.
He claimed he took the decision to deport what has now turned out to be phantom 5,000 Chinese nationals not considering the relationship between the two countries.
“When I was president we value the relationship with China. But if you’re Ghanaian and you go to China and you engage in illegality. they don’t say because of the good relations they have with Ghana they are going to let you go scot-free
“You will face the full rigors of the law in China and I don’t doubt that there are some of our citizens in jail in China. When I became president, I was faced with this same illegal gold mining. I deported almost 5,000 illegal Chinese miners. I didn’t say because of the good relations we have with China, we should allow them to continue to engage in this illicit activity…”, he claimed.
But veritable information gathered from the GIS revealed that only 1,018 illegal Chinese miners were deported between 2009 and 2016.
The data also disclosed that 623 Chinese were deported between 2017 and 2022, totaling 1,641 from 2009 to 2022.
Again, it was uncovered that over 3,800 submitted to repatriation on a voluntary basis.
