Member of Parliament for North Tongu, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, has observed a close relationship between illegal small-scale mining kingpin, Aisha Huang and lawyers belonging to the governing New Patriotic Party, NPP. Ablakwa, while commenting on the recent disclosure that four accomplices standing trial with Ms. Huang in a case before the Accra Circuit Court, were represented by immediate past NPP National Chairman, Freddie Blay; said he wasn't in the least surprised. He revealed that as far back as 2017, when Huang got entangled in legal issues, her first two lawyers were affiliated with the NPP but the government pushed for a change in lawyers for Huang. "After her first arrest, Aisha Huang’s earlier lawyers of choice were Mr. Bernard Owiredu Donkor and Mr. Ellis Owusu-Fordwouh," Ablakwa said in a post dated October 12. The former he noted went on to become the NPP's Parliamentary Candidate for Akwatia in the 2020 General Elections. Aisha Huang's current lawyer is a former Berekum MP, Nkrabeah Effah Dartey, who has been her representative since 2018. It emerged only yesterday that Freddie Blay was the main lawyer for Huang's four co-accused in a case related to galamsey. Lucy Ekeleba Blay, a private legal practitioner, said she was holding brief for Freddie Blay in the case of the four accomplices in the persons of Gao Jin Cheng, Lu Qi Jun, Haibin Go and Zhang Zhipeng. The plea of three of the accused persons has been taken with that of the last deferred due to the unavailability of a Vietnamese translator. Meanwhile, Godfred Yeboah Dame, the Attorney-General, indicated to the court the state's readiness to expeditiously dispose of the case and will be willing to try the case on a day-after-day basis. He observed that the judge superintending over the case has “also indicated his inclination to conduct the case in that manner.” “In respect of Aisha Huang, we have filed most of the documents to be relied on, we have filed witness statements of four witnesses. We only need to fill about four more,” Dame added. Read Ablakwa's full post below: Those who know what I know won’t be the least surprised that former NPP National Chairman, Mr. Freddie Blay is the new lawyer for Aisha Huang’s accomplices. After her first arrest, Aisha Huang’s earlier lawyers of choice were Mr. Bernard Owiredu Donkor and Mr. Ellis Owusu-Fordwouh. Messrs Donkor and Owusu-Fordwouh appeared for Aisha Huang and her other four accused Chinese nationals on numerous occasions at Criminal High Court 4 from July 21, 2017, before His Lordship Justice Charles Edward Ekow Baiden until that knavish January 2018 Mövenpick Ambassador Hotel Accra meeting where the powers that be strangely issued strict instructions about their preferred lawyer for Aisha Huang. They mentioned Nkrabeah Effah Darteh as the lawyer government was more comfortable with. That is how Aisha Huang dropped her earlier lawyers and accepted Effah Darteh. (I shall reserve for another day further details of what fully transpired at that unethical and diabolical meeting which was convened and chaired by a prominent Deputy Minister). Soon after the devious Mövenpick meeting, Nkrabeah Effah Darteh, who was described as government’s preferred lawyer, took over the case and actively appeared in court on multiple occasions defending Aisha Huang and her accomplices on 26th February, 2018; 14th March, 2018; 22nd March, 2018; 23rd March, 2018; 5th July, 2018; 11th July, 2018; 13th July, 2018 and 1st November, 2018. Nkrabeah Effah Darteh was also present in court on December 19, 2018 when the Akufo-Addo/Bawumia government filed its infamous and treacherous nolle prosequi making Aisha Huang and her collaborators free as they were discharged immediately. This government must really have such a special interest in the Aisha Huang affair that it always schemes under bizarre, nefarious, unpatriotic and destructive circumstances to ensure that only a certain calibre of “trusted” and “preferred” lawyers associate closely with the Aisha Huang case. Instructively, it is clear to me government is more concerned about managing sensitive information and containing the spread of dangerous secrets about the Aisha Huang debacle even more than the damage negative public perception about an immediate past NPP Chairman defending Aisha Huang’s accomplices can do to its already sordid image. And, by the way, let me congratulate Aisha Huang’s favourite first lawyer, Mr. Bernard Owiredu Donkor (who contested in the 2020 Akwatia NPP Parliamentary Primaries) on receiving full Government of Ghana Scholarship to pursue his LLM in the United Kingdom. I should hope he’s settling in comfortably, having arrived in the UK a few days ago. Quite a juicy quid pro quo deal, as some may argue. The trickery, political chicanery and galamsey shenanigans will be exposed and totally defeated soon — real Judgment Day is coming. You can also watch this episode of People & Places on GhanaWeb TV: SARA/PEN