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2016 Flagbearer of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has chastized President John Dramani Mahama for not consulting the relevant stakeholders before deciding to shelter in Ghana, two ex-detainees from the Guantanamo Bay military facility.

In an apparent reference to the latter's recent sharp riposte he fired at Dr Mahamadu Bawumia who accused him of being incompetent, Nana Addo stated since President Mahama says "only Presidents Rawlings and Kufuor have the right to criticize him, I would have wished that he had found it worthy to consult both of our two former national leaders before he took this grave decision that has consequences for us all”.

The issue of the resettlement of the two ex-Gitmo detainees in Ghana - Ahmud Umar Muhammad Bin Atef and Khalid Muhammad Salih Al-Dhuby - is still a very controversial one as majority of Ghanaians are against government's decision to accommodate them in the country.

Despite government's assurances that the ex-detainees are "low-risk" threats to security and the country will benefit from the partnership with the US, some security experts and religious groups feel the decision is not a wise one.

Even more foreboding they say, are remarks by the American Embassy in Accra that the US government cannot guarantee the behaviour of the two ex-detainees linked to the terror group Al-Qaeda.

In his first public comments on the never-ending debate whiles delivering a tribute in honour of the late Alhaji Alhassan Bin Salih in Wa, at an event of homage held on Tuesday, Nana Akufo Addo said had President Mahama done the needed consultations, “Ghanaian people may well have been spared the disquieting anxiety, in this time of justifiably heightened fear of global terrorism, that we are being led by a President who, ostensibly in the name of compassion, prefers to ignore laws designed to defend the most sensitive area of all, our nation’s security.”

Quoting Section 35 (1) of the Anti-Terrorism Act, 2008, (Act 762), which states that “The Director of Immigration or an officer authorised by the Director shall not grant an endorsement or authority to permit a person to enter this country if there are reasonable grounds to suspect that the person is, will or has been involved in the commission of a terrorist act,” the NPP Flagbearer posited that President Mahama's action "is a sad example of his belief that he is answerable to no one, not even to the laws of the Republic, like s.35 of the Anti-Terrorism Act (Act 760), which, as President, he is sworn to uphold.”

To him, the decision is yet another example of the failure of leadership on the part of the President.

"...his belief that he is answerable to no one…lawlessness in the highest levels of the state cannot produce good governance. We are being led by a President who ostensibly in the name of compassion prefers to ignore laws designed to defend the most sensitive area of all; our nation security."