A former Member of Council of State, Professor Akilapka Sawyerr, has cautioned against any attempt by the government to surrender Ghana's security to the US government.
Cabinet has approved an agreement to allow the US military an unrestricted access to a host of Ghanaian facilities and wide-ranging tax exemptions.
The deal will permit the U.S. military to use Ghana as a base for staging and deploying forces.
But Defence Minister, Dominic Nitiwul has denied any agreement for the country to be used as a base for the US military.
“The United State of America is not establishing a military base in Ghana…It is not true and they don’t intend to establish a military base in Ghana," he said on Joy FM Tuesday.
Confirming some aspect of the deal, he said the country rather stands to benefit immensely from an arrangement for the military in the two countries to cooperate.
But Prof. Sawyerr said the deal could expose Ghana to adversaries of the United States government and further put the lives of its citizens in danger.
The Director of Human Sciences Research Council, expressed “grave concern” over such arrangement although he was yet to thoroughly apprise himself with the details.
“The notion of an American base of any sort however described is in my view, a nightmare…the notion of a secret arrangement to surrender sovereignty over an aspect of security in this country frightens me enormously,” Prof. Sawyerr figured.
Describing it as “a matter of such great potential difficulty,” the law professor counselled that Ghana would better off staying off “other people’s business in this security era”.
“There are a number of problems globally which arise from the strength and the behaviour of the big powers and we are seeing country after country being drawn into all manner of things from this perspective,” he said.
Ghana-US security ties
The U.S. and Ghanaian militaries have cooperated on numerous joint training exercises designed to increase the effectiveness of the two in responding to international threats such as trafficking and terrorism.
Ghana is one of only 13 African nations selected for the State Partnership Program, which pairs a U.S. state’s National Guard with the armed forces of a partner country in a cooperative, mutually beneficial relationship.
Source: myjoyonline.com
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IF I MAY ASK, WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THE LAST LEG OF COLONIALISM THAT NKRUMAH AND SOME OTHERS FOUGHT TO BREAK AND THE CURRENT ARRANGEMENT THAT THE NPP GOVERNMENT IS TRYING TO ROPE US IN? DO WE STILL REMEMBER THE WARNING NKRUMAH GAVE US (GHANA) ABOUT THE ISSUE OF NEO-COLONIALISM OR NEO-COLONISATION? HAVE WE LOST ALL HOPE OF OUR ABILITY TO MANAGE OUR OWN SECURITY AFFAIRS THAT REQUIRES THAT WE SURRNDER OUR SECURITY TO FOREIGN BODIES? DO WE HAVE NO TACTICS ON OUR OWN SOIL AND REQUIRE OTHERS TO HANDLE IT FOR US? IF I MAY ASK THIS SIMPLE QUESTION BUT NOT UNDERMINING ANY BODY AT ALL, THAT ARE WE ALWAYS BEING DECEIVED THAT GHANAIAN SECURITY FORCES PERFORM MARVELOUSLY WELL WHEN THEY ARE ON PEACE KEEPING DUTIES? IF NOT THEN WHY CAN THEY HANDLE OUR INTERNAL SECURITY ISSUES? OR DO THEY PREFER THE DOLLARS THEY RECEIVE ON PEACE KEEPING DUTIES MUCH BETTER THAN THEIR UNFLINCHING PATROITISM TO GHANA AND GHANAIANS? OR DOES IT MEAN THE NPP GOVERNMENT DOESN'T HAVE THE "MEN" FOR SECURITY PURPOSES? PLEASE COME AGAIN, NPP AND NANA AKUFFU ADDO, WE ARE NOT SATISFIED WITH YOUR SECURITY ARRANGEMENTS. DON'T COVER UP ANY DEFFICIENCIES IF ANY, WE AND GHANA BEG YOU.