Effah Darteh is currently lawyer for Aisha Huang
Chinese National, Aisha Huang is in court over her involvement in some galamsey activities. Her charges include two of mining without a license and engaging in the sale and purchase of minerals. But prior to this, Aisha Huang had been in court in 2017, over some charges including undertaking a mining operation at Bepotenten in the Ashanti Region between 2015 and 2017 without license contrary to Section 99(2)(a) of the Minerals and Mining Act, 2006, Act 703, as amended by the Minerals and Mining (Amendment) Act 2019, Act 995. The second accusation was facilitating the participation of four Chinese; Gao Jin Cheng, 45; Lu Qi Jun, 39; Haibin Gao, 26; Zhang and Zhang Pen, 23, to mine at Bepotenten without a license. This was an offence because she employed foreign nationals contrary to Section 24 of the Immigration Act, 2000, Act 573. Aisha Huang was accused of providing excavators to small-scale mining companies around February 2015 to May 2017, without a valid license from the Mineral’s Commission. The first case was however dismissed by the prosecution after a nolle prosequi was filed by the state. She was said to have been expatriated to her home country afterwards. With the case back in court, government, headed by President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, have said they will do all in their power to ensure that the case is fairly heard and the accused persons duly prosecuted if found guilty. Meanwhile, it has been noted that all lawyers who have sat in for Aisha at the various points of her case are members of the ruling government. In this piece, GhanaWeb takes a look at all 3 lawyers from the ruling New Patriotic Party who have defended Aisha Huang in court: Bernard Owiredu Donkor: Bernard Owiredu Donkor was lawyer for Aisha Huang during her case in court in 2017. As a member of the New Patriotic Party, Mr. Donkor was a 2020 parliamentary candidate for Akwatia in the Eastern Region contesting against 3 others; Ernest Yaw Kumi, Robert Boateng Ampratwum and Mercy Adu Gyamfi. He is a private legal practitioner and electoral coordinator for Kusi electoral area, Mr Donkor holds a BSc Chemistry from the University of Ghana. In 2009, he enrolled at the University of Ghana Law Faculty, graduating with a Bachelor of Law (LLB) in 2011. He entered the Ghana School of Law the same year and was called to the Bar in 2013. He also holds a Certificate in Insurance Claims and Re-Insurance from the National Insurance College. The multilingual lawyer also worked briefly as Quality Assurance Manager at a food processing company in Tema before pursuing Law. He has been involved in other high-profile cases including the Kwabenya Police shooting case, the SSNIT OBS case, among others. He is currently a retainer lawyer for many entities, including the Denkyembour District Assembly. Ellis Owusu Fordwouh: Messer Ellis Owusu Fordwuoh has also been mentioned by Member of Parliament for North Tongu, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, as one of the lawyers who represented Aisha Huang in court in 2017. He is a known member of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) and a retired Commissioner of Police. He is also a former Director of National Intelligence Bureau (NIB) formally the Bureau of National Investigations (BNI). He is also a farmer at Kwaafokrom, a cocoa farming community in the Ashanti Region of Ghana. Nkrabea Effah Darteh: He is said to have taken over Aisha Huang’s case in 2018 and was present in court when government filed its nolle prosequi discharging Aisha Huang and her accomplices in 2018 December. He is the current lawyer defending Aisha Huang in court. New Patriotic Party stalwart, Captain (Rtd) Nkrabeah Effah-Dartey, on Wednesday, September 14, 2022, showed up at the Accra Circuit Court 9 to represent Aisha Huang and rose for the accused persons. As a politician, Captain Effah-Dartey, who resigned from the Ghana Armed Forces in 1983, represented the people of Berekum Constituency as a Member of Parliament for two terms between 2000 and 2008. He also worked as a Deputy Minister for Interior over the period. Having been away from active politics, Captain Effah-Dartey is now operating his private law firm. Meanwhile, Freddie Blay, former National Chairman of the NPP is lawyer for the four other persons in court with Aisha over illegal mining activities. Freddie Blay defends 3 Chinese Nationals, 1 Vietnamese: The 3 Chinese Nationals and a Vietnamese National are standing trial for their various roles in illegal small scale mining in the country. The three (Shi Yang alias Philip, Li Wei Guo and Shi Mei Zhi) are facing the charge of engaging in illegal mining activities in the country, while Aisha Huang has been charged with mining without a license and engaging in the sale and purchase of minerals. Aisha is also facing four other charges, including undertaking a mining operation without a license, facilitating the participation of persons engaged in a mining operation, illegal employment of foreign nationals, and entering Ghana while prohibited from re-entry. A fourth suspect, Vietnamese national, Nguyen Thi Thanh Tuyen, is however being charged for remaining in Ghana after the expiration of a permit contrary to sections 20(1) and 52(1)(d) of the Immigration Act, 2000 (Act 573). Frederick Worsemao Armah Blay, popularly called Freddie Blay, is a Ghanaian lawyer and politician. He was a Member of Parliament in Ghana and served as the First Deputy Speaker in the Fourth Parliament of Ghana. He lost his seat in the general elections held on 7 December 2008 to Armah Kofi Buah of the NDC. He was a member of the Convention People's Party (CPP) but resigned to join the New Patriotic Party after being criticized by some CPP stalwarts for not campaigning for the CPP flagbearer Paa Kwesi Nduom, instead endorsing NPP's presidential candidate Nana Akufo-Addo. After joining the NPP, he stood for and got elected to the post of Vice Chairman of the party in April 2014. After the party expelled its Chairman Paul Afoko, it appointed Blay as its acting Chairman. He stood for and was elected as substantive Chairman of the party at an NPP party national conference in Koforidua that took place from 7 to 8 July 2018. In the prelude to the Chairmanship race, a lot of controversies were generated when Blay promised to and eventually bought 275 buses for the 275 constituencies of the party for a purported cost of 11 million dollars. The opposition asked for an investigation. Blay's opponent in the election called it vote-buying. Blay stated that the buses were bought with a loan facility from the Universal Merchant Bank to be run by State Transport Company on the behalf of the NPP's constituents. He was also appointed to the position of Board Chairman for the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation GNPC. He is currently the Senior Partner at Blay and Associates. He is also the board chairman and majority shareholder of Western Publications Limited, publishers of the Daily Guide newspaper, the flagship of the Group, Business Guide, News-One, and Young Blazers. You can also watch this episode of People & Places on GhanaWeb TV: WA
