He explained that the failure of government officials to provide information to the public and to do so timeously had largely contributed to the high levels of mistrust.

“Over time if you look at percentage of the citizenry who say they trust institutions, whether it is the court, whether it is Parliament, whether it is the police, whether it is the Presidency, you realise low levels and also declining of levels of trust,” Dr Osae-Kwapong asserted.

He noted that recent calls for probe into supposed deportation of Chinese national and illegal mining kingpin, En Huang popularly known as Aisha Huang was manifestation of mistrust in state institutions adding that “on trust issue in governance institutions when information is not provided, not provided rapidly and such narratives tend to grow, perpetuate and persist.

“Particularly in the case of Aisha Huang what is even fuelling the mistrust is the fact that she was able to return into the country undetected and engage in the same illegal activity that had gotten her deported which deepen suspicion and mistrust of state institutions that are supposed to enforce the law whether it is illegal mining, immigration and other issues.

“Mistrust, and knowing someone deem to have broken the laws of the country, is able to come back is actually fueling the narrative, probably she did not even leave but there are records of deportation order, evidence she boarded an Ethiopian Airlines flight but in an environment of mistrust it is difficult for state institutions to get citizens to believe them even when they are telling them the truth,” Dr Osae-Kwapong lamented.

Okudzeto Ablakwa, Ranking Member on Foreign Affairs Committee of Parliament, asked for full-scale probe into circumstances leading to the deportation of Aisha Huang, for illegal mining and was alarmed such suspicious character outwitted the security agencies.

He indicated that Ghanaians were doubtful about her deportation because of deep rooted allies she had in high places who were helping her to beat the system and the only way to unravel the Aisha Huang debacle was to have full-scale probe into the issue.