The Majority in Parliament has dismissed claims by the Minority that a Lebanese national has been abducted in the country.
This was contained in a statement signed by a Member of the Committee on Foreign Affairs, John Ntim Fordjour, for and on behalf the Majority Caucus.
The Lebanese, Mahran Mustapha Baajour, is alleged to have been abducted at the airport by some operatives of National Security.
The minority believes the situation could spark diplomatic row between Ghana and Lebanon.
On Sunday, the Minority in Parliament, in a press release signed by the Ranking Member on Foreign Affairs, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, tasked the Akufo-Addo-led government to act in an accountable manner as is expected of democratic states by breaking its unhelpful silence over the abduction and disappearance of Mahran Mustapha Baajour.
“The Minority is reliably informed that immediately after arriving at the Kotoka International Airport on December 13, 2018, Mahran Mustapha Baajour and his two Ghanaian hosts who welcomed him at the airport were arrested at the precincts of the airport just when they were about departing in their Toyota salon vehicle with registration number GN 6126 - 15 by persons claiming to be operatives of the Bureau of National Investigations (BNI).
“After all three were kept in detention for six days in violation of Ghanaian law, our understanding is that Mahran's two hosts, one Razak Abdul and another were then released as free men while Mahran was kept in detention. This is the reason Mahran's family and officials from his country are having a hard time believing denials and claims of innocence by Ghanaian Government officials they have contacted,” the Minority alleged.
Barely twenty-four hours after the Minority's press statement, the Majority in Parliament fired a quick rebuttal on Monday describing the former's assertions as "false, unfounded and holding no truth".
"credible checks conducted at the National Security and Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration affirm beyond a doubt that no such person had arrived at the Kotoka International Airport, contrary to the palpably false accounts given by the Ranking Member of the Committee on Foreign Affairs..."
"Ghana is acclaimed in the international community as a country where human rights and the rule of law are creditably upheld and thus, any contemptible attempt by the Ranking Member and the Minority, to falsely portray ur country otherwise, in pursuit of parochial and partisan interests should and must be condemned in no uncertain terms," the Majority shot back.
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