The Chairman of the Parliamentary Select Committee on Defense and Interior, Fritz Baffour has defended government’s refusal to inform Parliament about its decision to host the two former Guantanamo detainees in the country.<\/p>\n
He believes government can take such security decisions without recourse to Parliament.<\/p>\n
[contextly_sidebar id=”FpTj7PVUOwnrKrGjO80GK6jr6SZu8UNv”]\u201cI don\u2019t agree with some members who believe that the committee should have been involved in the consultation because we have oversight and the executive has the mandate and they have decisions they can make and we can question the decisions after. What we pray for is that the decisions will not be something that will disturb the firmament in Ghana,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
Some Members of Parliament and security analysts have accused government of breaching the law by not engaging Parliament on the matter before accepting to host two former Guantanamo inmates in Ghana,<\/p>\n
A Member of Parliament\u2019s Committee on Defence and Interior, Major Derrick Oduro earlier told Citi News<\/strong> that the Foreign Affairs and Interior Ministers, Hanna Tetteh and Mark Woyongo will be hauled before Parliament<\/a><\/strong><\/span> over the issue.<\/p>\n But speaking on Eyewitness News<\/strong> on Thursday, Fritz Baffour who is also the MP for Ablekuma South said the President did not disrespect Parliament over the issue.<\/p>\n He said \u201cwhen it comes to security issues, we are not informed of it. The thing is that we are the defense and interior select committee and we are involved in oversight and if decisions are taken we have every right to question them.\u201d<\/p>\n Fritz Baffour however noted that, because the Parliament is on recess, they will meet later to assess the decision because of the massive public outcry.<\/p>\n \u201cI know that there was an executive decision but I don\u2019t expect that when a top security decision is going to be taken they will call the Chairman or the ranking. It\u2019s not every cabinet decision that we get to know unless it\u2019s a financial transaction that has get to come before Parliament because it\u2019s part of our constitution. But with security issues there is a lot of relieve way for the president.\u201d<\/p>\n –<\/p>\n By: Godwin A. Allotey\/citifmonline.com\/Ghana<\/p>\n