Ghana’s Ambassador to China under the John Mahama-led administration, Horace Ankrah, has called on Chinese nationals who visit or stay in Ghana, to obey the laws of the country.

His comments follow recent reports of Chinese nationals involving themselves in galamsey activities as well as illegal logging of rosewood.

For instance, Ms Helena Huang was arrested for illegally logging rosewood and arraigned.

Also, Ms Aisha Huang, known as the ‘Galamsey queen’, was deported by the government of Ghana over galamsey activities after the Attorney General filed a nolle prosequoi to discontinue the prosecution prior to her deportation.

A recent comment by Ghana’s Senior Minister Yaw Osafo-Maafo at a town hall meeting in the US to the effect that jailing Aisha Huang would not have ended Ghana’s problems, which he juxtaposed to a $2-billion bauxite-for-infrastructure deal between the government of Ghana and Chinese firm Sinohydro, got the opposition and civil society groups angry.

Speaking in an interview with Odehyieba Kofi Assuman on the Citizen Show on Accra100.5FM, Thursday, 19 December 2019, the former ambassador called on the law enforcement agencies to ensure that the laws of Ghana work and appealed to the Chinese to obey the laws of the country when they visit.

Mr Ankrah stated: “It calls for ensuring that the laws of our country work because in China, before you even go tree-felling, if it’s two trees you want, you need a permit, and then the government will show you specifically where it wants you to plant your two trees before you go and plant. So, over there, certain laws work, over here, too, the laws work.

“I won’t say that the laws don’t work here in Ghana, the laws work. The Chinese who visit our country, we’ll plead with them that they should come to Ghana, they are welcome but we’ll also plead with them to obey the laws of our country.”

The Citizen Show airs on Accra100.5FM every Tuesday and Thursday from 7 to 9pm.