The Noble Order of the Knights and Ladies of Marshall, a Catholic friendly society, has asked the government to acknowledge its pitfalls and apologise to Ghanaians for the manner it handled the issue of the two ex-Guantanamo Bay prisoners.
“It is not the resort to insulting Ghanaians or institutions that speak their mind against some of these matters that will right a wrong,” it said.
In a statement issued by the society, it wondered why the two ex-detainees were being kept at the National Security compound and their movement monitored 24/7, if they posed no security risk to Ghanaians.
“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,” it said.
Communication challenges
The statement expressed disappointment with the government’s information management on this issue of national interest.
“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
Disturbing developments
It said what was even much more worrying and disturbing was the Minister of the Interior, Mr Mark Woyongo, who has oversight responsibility for National Security, saying that he was not privy to the discussions.
It said a report that was attributed to the Foreign Affairs Minister, Ms Hanna 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 the two had been debarred from returning to the United States, further muddied the waters.
“Is the government aware that as of July 13, 2013, 100 of the 603, representing 16.6 per cent, released detainees at Guantanamo Bay, have re-engaged in terrorist activities?” the statement asked.
The statement said it was of the view that the decision should have been brought up for discussion in Parliament as happened in a number of countries.
It, therefore, urged the government to reconsider the decision in the broad interest of peace and security.
