Member of Parliament for Afigya Kwabre North, Collins Adomako-Mensah, has recounted how he was removed from his seat at a pub in the Ashanti Regional capital, Kumasi, in order for the bar to accommodate some Chinese clients.
The lawmaker believes the episode is part of a wider impact of the influence that Chinese people, especially those engaged in illegal small-scale mining, galamsey, are having in the country.
According to him, the fight against galamsey was one for the dignity and sovereignty of Ghana.
Contributing to a panel discussion on Metro TV’s Good Morning Ghana on September 14, Adomako-Mensah narrated the experience he had with his friends and how the bar attendants despite knowing who he was insisted on him changing seats.
“Three weeks ago, I was in Kumasi and myself and some few friends decided to go to a pub to have a drink. 10 minutes after we sat looking through the menu, one of the gentlemen approached us and said we have to get up from where we are seated and move to another place.
“I said if it’s about cost, we are prepared to take care of it. He said ‘no, you have to move and sit somewhere else.’ They know [I am an MP]. After a little argument, I decided to just move because it was creating a scene.”
He said what happened after they had agreed to move was of a group of Chinese clients taking the very seats they had been forced to leave.
“Ten minutes after we moved, some Chinese guys entered and they were treated with all the courtesies. This galamsey thing, it has gone beyond a definition about repatriation and deportation. It is about our dignity now. It is about our sovereignty. It is getting totally out of hand,” he lamented.
“And you listen to radio and the argument is about a woman [Aisha Huang]. A woman who has eluded governments – a whole machinery. Let’s situate the argument well.
“It is not about definition of deportation or repatriation. It is a serious matter. I am a Member of Parliament, I was sacked from a seat just to allow Chinese people to sit,” the legislator said.
His point about deportation and repatriation relates to a recent explanation by Information Minister that the two terms meant different things.
Kojo Oppong-Nkrumah was reacting to a controversial take by President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, that he wasn’t sure if galamsey queen Aisha Huang was deported or she fled the country in 2018.
