[ 2017-01-25 ]

‘Gitmo 2 likely to stay in Ghana till end of contract’
The two former detainees from Guantanamo Bay
currently being hosted in Ghana, may continue to
stay in the country until the two-year contract
signed between the government of Ghana and the US
expires.

The two, Mahmud Umar Muhammad Bin Atef, and
Khalid Muhammad Salih Al-Dhuby who were in
detention for 14 years after being linked with
terrorist group Al-Qaeda, were brought to Ghana in
2016, to be reintegrated back into their home
countries.

The decision by the Mahama-led administration was
met with massive public uproar, as many describing
it as a threat to national security.

Several members of the New Patriotic Party (NPP)
kicked against the decision.

However, speaking to Citi News’ Umaru Sanda
Amadu after taking her turn at the Appointments
Committee of Parliament, the Minister nominee for
Foreign Affairs, Shirley Ayorkor Botchwey, failed
to disclose whether or not the NPP government will
review the agreement.

She said “they are one year into the agreement,
so we have another year to go before the agreement
that was signed comes to an end.”

When she probed further, Ayorkor Botchwey said,
“I don’t know [whether it will be reviewed or
not], this is sub-judice so I don’t think that I
want to make any comment on it.”

“But I’m just saying that we are one year into
the agreement, the agreement is for two years,
when we come to that bridge we will cross it. It
is an agreement, the agreement has already been
done,” the Minister nominee added.


Shirley Ayorkor Botchwey appeared before the
Appointments Committee on Monday where she was
vetted.

However the Defence Minister-nominee, Dominic
Nitiwul, has said the NPP administration will take
a decision on the two men.

No security threat


The US Embassy in Ghana had in January 2016,
assured Ghanaians that the presence of the two
former detainees, posed no threat to the security
of the country.


Some two Ghanaians subsequently sued government
over the decision.

The two Ghanaians, Margaret Bamful and Henry Nana
Boakye, accused former President John Mahama of
illegally bringing in the two former Gitmo
detainees, without recourse to the laws of the
land.


The plaintiffs sought among other reliefs a
“declaration that on a true and proper
interpretation of Article 75 of the 1992
Constitution of Ghana, the President of the
Republic of Ghana acted unconstitutionally by
agreeing to the transfer of Mahmud Umar Muhammad
Bin Atef and Khalid Muhammad Salih Al-Dhuby.”


The Supreme Court in 2016 ordered the  government
of Ghana to release its agreement with the United
States government regarding the acceptance of two
Guantanamo Bay detainees into the country.

Source - citifmonline.com

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