General News of Saturday, 7 April 2018
Source: mynewsgh.com
2018-04-07
Jerry John Rawlings,Former President of Ghana
Former President of the republic of Ghana Jerry John Rawlings has spoken in the wake of the address to the nation Thursday night by President Akufo-Addo on the controversial US military deal.
The former President said the President’s speech was ‘hard’ but ‘important and timely.’
As has become his style of late, he took to Twitter to make his views known, and noticeably, he took a marked different route from his party, NDC who have accused the President of using the speech to flay them and to call into question their patriotism.
In the “stateman tweet” MYNEWSGH.com saw from his page, he called for a review of particular areas of the agreement that is a bone of contention to build consensus.
He wrote:
“Though the President’s address was hard, it was important and timely to hear him and the American Ambassador (earlier) affirm that there would be no military base established in Ghana. That was my major concern in my initial reaction to news of the agreement. The spirit of co-operation, be it military, or diplomatic has always been there. If there are details that warrant a second look, such details should be examined to create comfort for all sides.” The tweet ended.
President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo in a speech he delivered Thursday, reaffirmed his resolve to reject a proposal for the establishment of a US military base in Ghana by the government of the United States.
He has also disclosed that the United States government has not also made such a request indicating that he will not even be in the position to grant it if it is made.
“Let me state with the clearest affirmation that Ghana has not offered a military base, and will not offer a military base to the United States of America. Indeed, the United States of America has not made any request for such consideration and, consistent with our established foreign policy, we will not consider any such request. However, in consideration of the realities of our circumstances and the challenges to peace in our region in our time, we have deemed it prudent to continue the Co-operation Agreement with the United States of America”, he disclosed
In a televised address to the nation on the controversial Ghana-US military cooperation agreement monitored by MyNewsGH.com, he disclosed that he only assented to the current agreement on the basis of the fact that it will help enhance the security of the country.
“It is our firm belief that the Agreement will help enhance our defence capability, and offer an important layer of support in our common effort to protect the peace in our region”
Ghana has enough foreigners
The Ex-president earlier cautioned against the decision that will allow the US military troops an unfettered access to facilities in Ghana.
He said although Ghanaians may have love for Americans, they will not be happy to have “foreign troops on such a scale” living among them.
Wading into the matter, similarly in a tweet, the ex-president asked the government to reconsider the deal before going ahead with it.
“Ghanaians have enough foreigners dominating their economic and social life. Adding foreign troops to the discomfort would be a bit too much,” he tweeted.
Mr Rawlings said Ghanaians have felt “stateless” before in their lifetime and will not want that to be repeated.
— Jerry John Rawlings (@officeofJJR) April 6, 2018