The Attorney General, Marietta Brew Oppong, has told the Supreme Court that there was no formal agreement between the government of Ghana and the United States, prior to the hosting of the two former Guantanamo Bay Gitmo detainees in the country.
According to the AG, who was represented in court by the acting Solicitor General Helen Ziwu, the only form of agreement was a note verbale which is a diplomatic communication prepared in the third person and unsigned.
The AG made this revelation after lawyers for two plaintiffs who are in court over the hosting of the two former detainees, filed an interlocutory application asking government to produce the agreement which brought the two men into the country.
The Supreme court in ruling on the application ordered the AG to produce the agreement in camera at the next sitting of the court on the 6th of July.
The Supreme Court on Tuesday threatened to rule on the case if the AG did not turn up at the next hearing, hence their appearance in court today [Wednesday].
Background
Two Ghanaian citizens, Margaret Bamful and Henry Nana Boakye, about a month ago, sued the Attorney General and Minister of Justice, together with the Minister of Interior, accusing President John Mahama of illegally bringing in the two former Gitmo detainees, without recourse to the laws of the land.
The plaintiffs are seeking among other reliefs a “declaration that on a true and proper interpretation of Article 75 of the 1992 Constitution of Ghana, 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.”
Ex-Guantanamo detainees pose no security threat – US Embassy
Ghanaians met government’s decision to host the two as a threat to national security, but Government insisted the two men posed no threat.
In January 2016, the United States Embassy in Ghana, assured Ghanaians that the presence of the two former detainees, posed no threat to the security of the country.
“The two detainees that were transferred to Ghana have already arrived…we don’t have access to the specifics of their whereabouts, you have to go to the government of Ghana for that,” Public Affairs Counselor at the US Embassy in Ghana, Daniel Fennell said. Two Guantanamo bay detainees, Mahmud Umar Muhammad Bin Atef and Khalid Muhammad Salih Al-Dhuby had been in detention for 14 years, after being linked with terrorist group Al-Qaeda.
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By: Fred Djabanor/citifmonline.com/Ghana