Learn Chinese to Fight Galamsey - Supreme Court Nominee Justice Mensah Recommends Chinese Language Training for Judges
Accra, Ghana - 18 June, 2025 - In a novel approach to tackling Ghana's galamsey crisis, Supreme Court nominee Justice Philip Bright Mensah has proposed that judges handling cases involving foreign nationals, particularly Chinese individuals, receive language training to facilitate prosecution.
According to Justice Mensah, language barriers pose a significant challenge in prosecuting foreign nationals, especially Chinese individuals, who are often involved in illegal mining activities.
"When they are arrested, especially these Chinese people, when they are arrested and sent to the court, the difficulty is that they don't speak English. Even if they can understand English, they refuse to speak English," he explained during his vetting on Tuesday June 17.
He noted that the inability of judges and law enforcement agencies to communicate effectively with these individuals hampers prosecution efforts.
To address this issue, Justice Mensah recommended that judges be trained in the Chinese language, either through studies in China or expert-led training programs at the Judicial Training Institute.
"I would suggest strongly or I recommend that the judges who are in this, the areas where this galamsey is going on, the judges must either be taken to China for further studies in the Chinese language or they should fashion; the JTI [Judicial Training Institute] must be resourced to bring experts to come and train our judges."
While acknowledging the possibility of using interpreters, Justice Mensah expressed concerns about potential issues with accuracy and impartiality.
"That is also good; it's another point. But you see the interpreters; sometimes they are also a problem,"
"So if the judge himself understands the language, it will be better for them to understand what he's doing, what she or he is doing, and for us to be able to cut the menace of galamsey."
Beyond this innovative suggestion, Justice Mensah emphasized that Ghana's existing Minerals and Mining laws contain sufficient deterrents to punish those involved in galamsey.
He stressed that the primary challenge lies in the effective implementation of the law, calling for enhanced collaboration between relevant state services and law enforcement agencies.
"First and foremost, we have these minerals and mining laws, and the offences that the law creates are deterrent enough to punish people who are involved in galamsey," he said.
Justice Mensah warned of severe consequences if galamsey is not curbed, including the potential destruction of water bodies and the need to import water in the future.
"If we allow this to go on and in the next five or 10 years we are importing water because all our water bodies are destroyed, can we bear it?"
However, he declined to comment on the deportation of foreign nationals involved in galamsey, citing the separation of powers between the judiciary and the executive.
"The power to deport is executives. I'm not in the executive."
Source: Lead News Online
