NPP Parliamentary Candidate for Ofoase Ayirebi, Kojo Oppong Nkrumah says President John Dramani Mahama was "insensitive and deceitful" to Ghanaians in the matter of resettling two ex-detainees freed from Guantanamo Bay in Ghana.
Adding his voice to the Gitmo detainee saga, Kojo Oppong Nkrumah said the Mahama administration's decision is a total admission of their insensitivity to the plight of Ghanaians and as a result, called on Ghana's Parliament to review the decision.
Contributing to a panel discussion on Peace FM's Kokrokoo, he wondered why the president decided to accept the detainees without first consulting with the legislators.
“What really hindered us from going to Parliament to consult with our Parliamentarians?...Parliament should recall the issue and deliberate on its pros and cons in order to brief Ghanaians about the truth behind the transfer of the detainees,” he said.
Though the President has dismissed reports regarding any monetary inducement associated with the deal during a press briefing at the Flagstaff House, the NPP MP aspirant however believed the deal will surely be accompanied by some financial handout.
He pointed out that the American government will not transfer the two detainees; Mahmud Umar Muhammad Bin Atef and Khalid Muhammad Salih, unlawfully kept in detention for fourteen years for no crime committed without any form of monetary compensation.
“How much has the American government paid and to who? Because it will never happen that the American government will dump these people here without adding one pesewa to it,” he said.
He further discounted claims that the two detainees do not pose any security threats to the nation.
At the said annual Flagstaff House "Meet-The-Press", President John Mahama told journalists that the ex-detainees are "low risk" individuals who had not engaged in any direct operational activities in the Afghanistan crisis and all security checks did not indict them of any criminal activity.
But reading from a 2007 leaked US Department of Defense document which suggested that the two detainees were high risk terrorists, Kojo Oppong Nkrumah stated that the US profiled Mr. Bin Atef as a committed supporter of extremism.
“The detainee is assessed to be a fighter in Osama Bin Laden’s 55th Brigade and it’s an admitted member of the Taliban. He participated in hostilities against US and coalition forces and continues to demonstrate his support for Osama and extremism. He is a high risk and is likely to pose a threat to the US, its interest and its allies," he alluded to the report.
He advised Parliament to re-visit the issue and deal with it holistically.
“If they have paid money to us, it is in the interest of this country for Parliament to know. If they have paid no money to us and we’re using our own resources to cater for these people, it is in the interest of our people to know,” he said.
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