We await benefits of Ghana-US Cooperation Agreement
About two weeks ago, the Minister of Defence, Dominic Nitiwul, laid before Parliament a document seeking to ratify an agreement for space around the Kotoka International Airport, which will serve as a camp for United States of America (US) military forces in Ghana.
Before the House could start discussions on the document, it had become a public document with the minority National Democratic Congress (NDC) kicking so hard against it that there were accusations by the New Patriotic Party (NPP) majority that the NDC had leaked the document.
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So for the past two weeks, newspapers and the electronic media have been awash with stories of what the public prefer to refer to as the establishment of a US military base in the country.
Officially referred to as the Ghana-US Military Cooperation Agreement, it has probably brought to our political discourse what may go down in history as one of the most controversial agreements to have been ratified by Parliament since the return to constitutional rule 25 years ago.
Amid the drama and chaos, the NDC minority, although had their say, walked out of Parliament, leaving the majority NPP to have their way. Thus Parliament adopted the report by the Committee on Defence and Interior and ratified the agreement.
Official (government) sources say the object of the agreement is to set out a framework for enhanced partnership and security cooperation between Ghana and the US with the aim to further strengthen their defence relations.
It is also to address shared security challenges in the region. These are, no doubt, good intentions but the journey to the acceptance of the agreement by Parliament was so rough that many are asking whether there was full disclosure on the details of the deal and whether the benefits to be derived from the agreement will be worthwhile.
Among other benefits, Ghana is expected to receive $20 million in the first year to support the Ghana Armed Forces, on account of the agreement.
The Minority said they had nothing to do with the agreement, the reason for the walkout, explaining that the agreement would give the US unfettered access to some defence facilities in Ghana and thus mortgaged the country’s sovereignty and sent it back to servitude.
Before the agreement was ratified, some pressure groups, including the Economic Fighters League, declared their abhorrence of the deal and promised to punish the MPs that supported the deal.
Whatever the case, the agreement has been ratified and its terms are bound to be implemented, sooner than later.
The Daily Graphic is of the view that the divergent positions adopted by the two sides of the political divide have done more harm than good to the public’s understanding of such agreements.
While the Majority insists that the current agreement is only an improvement over similar ones signed between Ghana and the US in 1998 and 2015, the Minority said the two were very different.
Whatever it is, the citizenry expect that their elected representatives have always had the interest of the nation at heart and take into account that interest before any decisions are taken.
Now that the agreement has been ratified, Ghanaians await the benefits, and soon. Under the circumstance, it is only posterity that will determine the justification or otherwise for the ratification of the agreement.