Gitmo 2: Government Does Not Violate Intelligence and Securities Law – Majority

General News on Friday, January 25, 2019

Source: Myjoyonline.com

2019-01-25

The majority of Parliament denied minority allegations that the government is violating the Intelligence and Securities Act for failing to inform the House of the status of former Guantanamo Bay detainees in the country.

Minority Foreign Affairs Spokesman Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, in an open letter to the Minister of National Security, Albert Kan-Dapaah, asked for updated information on both.

The laws of the land require the minister to submit an annual report on intelligence agencies to Parliament, but he has not done so for two years.

He issued the government with a 25-day ultimatum to submit the report or face legal action.

However, Seth Acheampong, chairman of the parliament's defense and interior committee, insists that the government has met the requirements of the law through in camera meetings.

He added that the committee would meet with the minister when Parliament resumes its work to get an update on the status of Guantanamo Bay detainees.

The two Yemenis, Mahmud Umar Muhammed Bin Atef and Khalid Muhammad Salih Al-Dhuby, were resettled in Ghana in January 2016 as a result of an agreement between the John Mahama government and the US government led by Barack Obama. administration.

They were detained at Guantanamo Bay for 14 years after being linked to the al-Qaeda terrorist group, but were later released as part of the US government's plan to shut down the facility.

Their stay in Ghana ended on January 6, 2018, but the ruling party, the New Patriotic Party (NPP), announced that the men had been granted refugee status without his knowledge.

The minority believes that "the worsening of the insecurity situation that is causing unprecedented national and international concern as a result of the badbadination of the underground journalist Ahmed Hussein-Suale, many cases of murders under apparent contract, circumstances of the flight of Nana Appiah Mensah the abduction of the ladies of Takoradi – all this calls for an urgent and flawless commitment to our constitutional and legal obligations which, as you know better than many of us are designed to ensure our collective security. "