At a glance
NDC General Secretary Asiedu Nketiah says the Supreme ruling vitiates every action that the NDC government took and provides the NPP with a clean slate to take their independent action on the Gitmo 2
The NDC General Secretary says the ruling NPP are being disingenuous in their position on the Gitmo 2 matter
The Gitmo 2 have refugee status, making it difficult for government to take an alternative action on their stay, according to Shirley Ayorkor Botchwey, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration
General Secretary of opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC), Asiedu Nketiah, has challenged the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP) to work with the opportunity provided by the Supreme Court ruling on the Gitmo 2 and their own independent action on the matter.
According to him, every action the NDC government took on the matter has been rendered “null and void” the moment the Supreme Court ruled to make the action illegal.
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Mr. Asiedu Nketiah who was speaking to the issue on Adom FM’s Dwaso Nsem show with Kofi Adoma Nwawnani said it will amount to throwing dust into the eyes of Ghanaians if the current government uses the NDC’s actions as a basis for keeping the two detainees in Ghana.
He asked: “when the SC gave its ruling on the status of the Gitmo 2, didn’t it know that they had refugee status; and if they [SC] did, then it means they were vitiating everything in that agreement”.
The Supreme Court has, on the 22nd of June, 2017, declared as unconstitutional an agreement between the then Mahama government and the United States, which saw two Guantanamo Bay detainees brought into the country.
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The SC, presided over by Chief Justice Sophia Akuffo, held that the then President, John Mahama, needed the approval of the Parliament before entering into any international agreement, just as in the case of the two detainees.
The court, therefore, ordered that the government must within the next three months send the agreement to Parliament for ratification or have the two detainees sent back to the United States.
The current government chose the option of ratifying the agreement which has since expired on the 6th of January but Shirley Ayorkor Botchwey, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration, has informed Parliament that the Mahama government had granted refugee status to the detainees hence it would be difficult to return them.
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The Minister told Parliament that the essential component of the refugee status in Ghana “is protection against return to a country where a person has reason to fear persecution.”
“Accordingly, government is constrained to explore any further options at this time, and will await an in-depth examination of the matter by the appropriate agencies,” Mrs. Botchwey added.
It is however Mr. Asiedu Nketiah’s opinion that the government’s position is untenable in the face of the SC ruling.
In the view of Mr. Nketiah, therefore, it is either the case of government lacking the political gravitas to take its own decision or they have been caught in their own propaganda web.
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