News:
February 20, 2016
Member of Parliament for Manhyia South, Dr Mathew Opoku Prempeh a.k.a Napo has said the Foreign Affairs Minister, Hannah Tetteh only spoke English to Parliament and was not prepared to open up when she appeared before the House to answer questions over the housing of two ex Guatanamo Bay detainees in Ghana.
According to him, the Minister failed to answer several probing questions and give details of the agreement on the two terrorist much to the disappointment of Members of Parliament.
Hon. Hannah Tetteh who was in Parliament to brief the House in a closed door meeting sitting on Friday stated that Ghana had an ‘agreement’ with the United States to allow the former to accommodate two former detainees of the Guantanamo Bay Maximum Security establishment.
Her invitation to the August House was spurred by concerns from Members from both sides of the legislature over the Gitmo detainees’ acceptance into the country without their knowledge.
The Minister came to the House with a prepared document and restricted herself as she was not prepared to open up.
According to her, she was and is still not privy to the discussions that have gone on between President Mahama and the US Government.
On Wednesday, January 6, 2016, the Foreign Affairs Minister announced that Ghana has accepted a plea from the International Criminal Tribunal to provide shelter for two cleared terrorist suspects of Yemeni origin who were detained in Guantanamo Bay prison by US authorities.
The two were Khalid Mohammed Salih al-Dhuby and Mahmmoud Omar Mohammed Bin Atef.
The announcement sparked uproar among the citizenry as the two ex detainees were feared to be a security threat to the country. The brouhaha caused the Minister to be hauled before the House to give the Legislators a briefing.
However speaking to Joy News, Dr Mathew Opoku Prempeh stated that he was scandalized by the non disclosure strategy adopted by Hon. Tetteh.
“She never spoke about the Rwandese, never spoke Syrians who are also in town, neither did she speak about the Yemenese who are in Ghana with fake passports and Visas neither did she speak about the missing person who was bound for Abidjan who got lost at Kotoka International Airport. These are all security threats to our nation. Obviously there was never a National Security Council meeting concerning these Rwandese”.
He added: “I’m scandalized about what she didn’t say. She said nothing to Parliament except English. She said nothing, nothing, never in her statement did she answer the question of the number of refugees who are here as deportees, she never told us that Ghana had been turned into a refugee transit cell. She never told us how the President alone could have negotiated such an agreement, she never told us who is going to look after these people and how much it was going to cost the nation, she dint tell us by what travel document they entered the country and what type of visas they are on. It was only English she spoke to Parliament.
By: Ghanamps.gov.gh