Parliament to decide on GITMO 2

President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has assured Ghanaians that a decision on the two former Guantanamo Bay detainees in Ghana will be determined by Parliament when it reconvenes.

Although Ghana’s agreement with the United States of America (USA) to host the two former Guantanamo Bay detainees ended on January 6, the government is yet to take a decision on the two.

Responding to questions at the second media encounter scheduled to mark his first year as President in Accra on Wednesday, the President said he was fully aware that a decision had to be taken on whether the two would continue to stay or would have to leave the country and said that decision would be taken as soon as possible.

He said it was time for Ghana to certainly take a decision on the two, popularly known as the GITMO Two, because the period agreed on in the contract between Ghana and the United States had elapsed.

“The period under which the agreement was made has come to an end and we have to decide whether or not we are going to grant them permission to stay, whether we are going to make arrangements for them to go somewhere else. Those things are being actively examined as we sit, but I am fully aware that a decision on them has to be taken and it cannot be taken in six or five months; it has to be taken now,” he said.

He said the government would take that decision as early as possible.

Background

The GITMO Two — Mahmud Umar Muhammad Bin Atef and Khalid Muhammad Salih Al-Dhuby — were brought to Ghana in 2016 for a period of two years under an agreement between the governments of Ghana and the United States.

The agreement officially ended on January 6, 2018 and Ghana is expected to take a decision on the two.

The two were in detention at Guantanamo Bay for 14 years after being linked with the terrorist group Al-Qaeda but were brought to Ghana in 2016 for a period of two years.

Two Ghanaians — Ms Margaret Bamful and Mr Henry Nana Boakye — sued a former Attorney-General and Minister of the Interior concerning the presence of the two in the country, contending that the two were being hosted illegally.

The Supreme Court agreed with the plaintiffs and declared as unconstitutional the agreement between the Mahama government and the United States.

The court ordered the government to send the agreement to Parliament for ratification or have the two detainees sent back to the US.

According to the judgement, the government needed the approval of Parliament before entering into any international agreement, as was the case of the two detainees.

Parliament subsequently ratified the agreement for the two detainees to be in the country.

Other issues at the encounter — lifting galamsey ban

Continuing with his responses to questions at the media encounter, the President announced that a decision to lift the ban on small-scale mining would be taken after a meeting with the Cabinet next week.

“Next week the group that advises me on what to do is going to meet to review where we are and decide whether or not it is time for the lifting of the ban, so a decision will not be ready until after that meeting with the Cabinet next  week,” he said.

President Akufo-Addo said at the meeting, the group would review the current situation and the impact the interventions had made, adding that the outcome of that meeting would inform the decision to be taken. 

However, he assured all stakeholders that any decision taken would be in the interest of the nation and its future in its entirety.

The President expressed the belief that the fight against illegal small-scale mining, popularly referred to as ‘galamsey’, could not be withdrawn.

He said the country still had a long way to go in putting in place structures to fully end the menace in a sustainable way but was committed to doing so to the advantage of all.

National ID system

On the delay in the coming into force of the national Identification system, President Akufo-Addo said although the government promised to make the national identification system functional by the close of 2017, the process had delayed because the law expected to guide the operations of the national identification programme and its implementation was found inadequate.

“The law under which the programme was going to be unveiled was at the last minute subjected to another review and found to be inadequate, so the process has to take place and be implemented under an enabling law,” he said in response to a question.

He noted that a new law had been drafted and would be submitted to Parliament when it resumed next week.

“A new L.I. is ready for submission to Parliament when the House reassembles on the 23rd of January. After the 21 working days’ period is over, it’ll be ready to go into motion,” he said.

The President expressed his regret over the delay but assured all that everything was being done to ensure that the promise he made was fulfilled.

“It is certainly not on the back burner because it is such an important aspect of our overall strategy for going forward,” he said.

Homosexuality 

When he was asked whether his interview with Aljazeera on Ghana’s position on legalising homosexuality in Ghana was part of a conspiracy to promote the phenomenon in Ghana, he said he was not part of any such conspiracy.

“I think these are matters that are in the public domain and people are entitled to their own views. There is no concerted synchronised attempt on my part to promote its advocacy,” he added.

Cashew development

On cashew development in Ghana, President Nana Akufo-Addo said he was scheduled to launch a national Cashew Development Plan on February 20, 2018 to boost the industry.

 He gave an assurance that a full-scale cashew development plan was in the offing and expressed optimism that the plan would address the majority of concerns over cashew development and its industry in Ghana.

Incumbency not an advantage

Incumbency, he said, should never be an advantage in any proper democracy because electoral process within a healthy democracy needed to be sufficiently transparent to provide a level playing field for all actors.

 “The only advantage as a government in power is the quality of its performance, because that is what the electorate will or should measure a government by. But I don’t think incumbency should be an advantage.

“If the performance of a government is good and the people feel it is worth endorsing for another term, they will do so. If they feel that the performance is poor and it is not worth endorsing, they will destool you. So there should be no issue that incumbency is an advantage. Incumbency can only be an advantage in a situation where it means that some distortion, some unfair, untoward advantage is being gained by the fact that you are in office.

 “As far as the issue of incumbency is concerned, it should never be an advantage in a proper functioning democracy because the process should be sufficiently transparent.

“The voice of the people at any one stage will be kept through. If it cannot be because incumbency advantage is in an advanced stage, then it means the electoral playing field is being distorted or engineered to favour incumbency,”

“That should never be the case. The only advantage you can have if you are in government is the quality of your performance,” he said.