The Akufo Addo led-government has said it will take prompt steps to address the consequential orders of the Supreme Court after it declared that as unconstitutional the Government of Ghana agreement with the US government that saw two ex-GITMO detainees brought into the country.
The court on Thursday ordered the government to within the next three months send the agreement to Parliament for ratification or in lieu of that decision return the two detainees to the US.
Margaret Bamful and Henry Nana Boakye last year sued the Attorney General and Minister of Justice as well as the Minister of Interior, accusing government of illegally bringing in the two former Gitmo detainees, without recourse to the laws of the land.
The two plaintiffs were therefore seeking a true and proper interpretation of Article 75 of the 1992 Constitution of Ghana. The applicants claim that the President of the Republic of Ghana acted unconstitutionally by agreeing to the transfer of Mahmud Umar Muhammad Bin Atef and Khalid Muhammad Salih Al-Dhuby to Ghana.
Two Guantanamo bay detainees, Atef and Al-Dhuby had been in detention for 14 years by the United States after being linked with the terrorist group Al-Qaeda.
Chief Justice, Justice Sophia Akuffo reading the judgment said the president of Ghana by agreeing to the transfer of the two Guantanamo bay detainees required ratification by parliament with a vote of more than half, hence pronounced as unconstitutional the said agreement.
In a press statement signed by the Minister of Information, Mustapha Hamid, government assured the nation that “the ex detainees who have been comporting themselves well since their arrival in Ghana, continue to be under the supervision of the security agencies. Government is going to take prompt steps to address the consequential orders.”
In the meantime, government is calling for calm among the populace on this matter.
