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The Noble Order of the Knights and Ladies of Marshall has taken a strong exception to the government’s position on the two former inmates of the Guantanamo Bay Prison.
The Order stated that it has viewed “with trepidation the decision of the Government of Ghana to accommodate two former Guantanamo prisoners.”
“We associate ourselves with issues raised by a number of Ghanaians and civil society groups, including the Ghana Catholic Bishops Conference and the Christian Council of Ghana that the issue relating to the two is totally different from previous asylum requests granted to other refugees.”
The Noble Order is of the view that “the decision should have been brought for discussion in Parliament, as in the case of a number of countries.”
Even more worrying and disturbing is the statement by Minister of the Interior, Mr. Mark Woyongo, who has oversight responsibility for National Security that he was not privy to the discussions.”
The statement by the Foreign Affairs Minister, Ms. Hannah Tetteh that she was not aware of the official US information that described the two detainees as risky to the US National Security and for which reason debarred from returning to the United States is another case, they stated.
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They questioned whether government was aware that as of July 13, 2013, 100 out of the 603, representing 16.6 percent of detainees released from Guantanamo Bay, had re-engaged in terrorist activities?”
Although the government of Ghana claims that the two Gitmo detainees pose no security risk “we are at a loss as to why the suspects are being kept at the National Security compound and their movement monitored 24/7.”
They expressed disappointment in government’s handling of the communication relating to the subject.
“We are also disappointed with the government’s communication. Why did the government of Ghana come out to confirm the information only after US major news network Fox News had broken the news when the Department of Defence (DoD) had published it on its website?”
It asked government to apologise to Ghanaians over the poor handling of the issue.
The Noble Order therefore advised the government to reconsider the decision in the broad interest of peace and security.
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