Send judges to China to learn Mandarin – Justice Mensah proposes bold move against galamsey
Supreme Court nominee, Justice Philip Bright Mensah, has suggested that judges assigned to areas affected by illegal mining, popularly known as galamsey, be trained in the Chinese language to enhance effective prosecution of foreign nationals, particularly Chinese nationals, who dominate illegal mining operations in Ghana.
During his vetting before Parliament’s Appointments Committee on Tuesday, June 17, 2025, Justice Mensah highlighted a recurring issue that undermines the fight against galamsey—language barriers between accused persons and the courts.
“When they are arrested, especially these Chinese people and sent to the court, the difficulty is that they don’t speak English. Even if they understand English, they refuse to speak English,” he noted.
“And because the police and enforcement agencies also are unable to speak their language, it becomes more difficult to get them prosecuted.”
He further expressed concern about the reliability of court interpreters. “The interpreters themselves, sometimes they are also a problem,” he said.
“So if the judge himself understands the language, it will be better served for him to understand what he is doing for us to be able to curb the menace of galamsey.”
As a remedy, Justice Mensah proposed a proactive approach: “The judges must either be taken to China for further studies in Chinese language, or the JTI [Judicial Training Institute] must be resourced to bring experts to come and train our judges.”
He stressed the urgency of improving judicial capacity to deal with foreign offenders: “Because if the person has committed an offence and you can’t prosecute him, then it is as well saying that ‘oh let me leave him to go away.’”
