Ghana immigration sanctions arrest of “illegal” Chinese miners
Ghana’s Immigration Service (GIS) has ordered the arrest of 24 Chinese nationals for allegedly engaging in illegal mining activities, locally called ‘gallamsey’.
The arrests came just days after Finance and Economy minister Kwabena Duffuor announced a US$13 billion infrastructure loan from China, which he said would “change the face” of Ghana.
Like elsewhere in Africa, China’s project funding in Ghana has been on the rise, riding on the back of the World Bank’s recent prediction that the country was among the fastest growing this year.
However, Chinese nationals in the country have been on the spotlight for mining activities – mainly of gold, which locals complained were causing environmental degradation.
Tags: Africa business news, China in Africa, environmental degradation, Ghana
Its been a known fact that China has lost much of its natural resources. As a matter of fact, Linfen a city within China, is one if not the most, toxic cities on earth and many have left these toxic places to continue their self destructive behavior in Africa. The Asian contingent has poured vast amounts of their wealth into Africa over the last decade, but such deals ultimately never benefit us. Ask the US how deals with China work…smh
This looks like what many have been complaining about is true – that Chinese companies are hiring Chinese nationals (that, as this article proves are illegals) – rather than the locals. This sort of engagement does not benefit the local communities. A step in the right direction for Ghana.