Demonstrators against the Ghana - US military pact bearing messages during the march

Demos won’t change Ghana-US military pact – Mustapha Hamid

Isaac Yeboah Politics Apr - 04 - 2018 , 19:15 3 minutes read

Information Minister Mustapha Abdul-Hamid has scoffed at warnings by groups and individuals opposed to a recent military cooperation pact between the governments of Ghana and the US, saying no amount of demonstrations will change anything.

Mustapha Abdul-Hamid says to start with, those demonstrating against the deal are wrong to insist that the agreement is to allow the US set up a military base in Ghana against the express denials of the government and the US partners.

Said the Minister: “Of course” the approved deal is “final” and nothing will change since the demonstrations are “against military base and there is no military base.”

“There is no military base, there is no military base, there is no military base. There will never, ever be a military base under President Akufo-Addo, …never ever will Akufo-Addo allow a military base to be set up in Ghana, never… so that is it!” Mustapha Abdul-Hamid echoed repeatedly.

Thousands of Ghanaians last week took to the streets to protest the deal already approved by parliament, saying it is too lopsided a deal and bodes imminent ill-fate for Ghana’s peace, security and sovereignty.

The demonstration was organized by the group, Ghana First Movement, and saw the active participation of key opposition figures from the erstwhile National Democratic Congress government and other political parties.

Information Minister Mustapha Abdul-Hamid

But Mustapha Abdul-Hamid, guest on Asempa FM’s Ekosii Sen programme on Wednesday, said the hypocrisy of the NDC in particular in insisting that the deal amounts to a sellout of Ghana’s sovereignty beats the imagination, saying the same group while in government led the country in 2013 to subscribe to IMF conditionalities that require that Ghana cannot even draw its own budget without the prying eyes and supervision of IMF officials.

What is more a sale of sovereignty than this? How does a joint military exercise become a sale of sovereignty? He quipped.

He insisted that if America that offered Ghana some $547 million to construct the George Walker Bush highway in Accra did not colonise Ghana because of that, how then does one assume that they can colonize the country because they have offered $20 million.

In any case, he said the US has never in its history colonized any country so what history supports the claim that the US will colonize Ghana.

Mustapha Abdul-Hamid maintained that Ghanaians are neither gullible nor fools to take issues just at face value and that the NDC should continue with its propaganda activities because the government has decided to pursue its development agenda for the country, seeing that the NDC only delights in its parochial interests.

Watch video of the demonstration: