Cure your 'selective amnesia' - Baako takes on Minority over US military deal

Editor in chief of the New Crusading Guide newspaper, Alhaji Abdul Malik Kwaku Baako has called out the opposition NDC minority in parliament to be ‘consistent and principled’ and desist from ‘selective amnesia’ on the issue of the establishment of a US Military base in Ghana.

In an interview MYNEWSGH.com monitored on Peace FM’s Kokrokoo with Kwami Sefa Kayi, The journalist said the specific areas of the US military base agreement over which the NDC minority were ‘making noise’ were not any different from the 1998 agreement signed under then President Rawlings, founder of the NDC.

Minister of Defense Dominic Nitiwul, had in fact, and in what the Ghanaian public conclude is purely political equalization, declared the present agreement as a continuation of what the erstwhile NDC administration signed in 1998 and 2015 for which reason former Foreign Affairs Minister Hannah Tetteh should be blamed.

Arguing his case with ‘documents’, Mr Baako read portions of the 1998 agreement: “As a result of this discussion, the embassy has the honour to propose that such personnel be accorded the status equivalent to that accorded to administrative and technical staff of the United States Embassy under the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations of April 18 1961, so that they can enter and exit Ghana with US Identification Cards with collective movement or individual travel orders”, he read.

“So those essential portions they [minority] are making noise about has been there from 1998… I’m only asking for consistency”, he said.

“It means this was an existing agreement”, he added.

“I’m pointing it out to the Minority that if they didn’t know or if they’re pretending they didn’t know, the thing that they’ve highlighted as a scandalous and a serious assault on our sovereignty; if they were being consistent and principled they would have realized it was already existing and say that perhaps it was bad then, so let’s remove it now. At least you come with some integrity and not selective amnesia”, he told listeners of Peace FM.

Responding to Koku Ayidoho on the same show regarding comments Mr Ayidoho passed about him ‘coming with outdated documents’ to defend government, he said:

“I’m a realist and I’m a pragmatist in terms of how I go about doing my politics. I decide how to go about it. Nobody has any right or ability or even capability to dictate to Kweku Baako how to do his politics”, he fired.

“The truth is that I have decided not to dignify the buffoonery of intellectually impotent political midgets and windbags with any serious reaction because it will be a sheer waste of precious time and space; it is a conscious decision. That standing order still stands”, he emphasized.

MYNEWSGH.com broke the news about an agreement headed to parliament on the establishment of a US Military base in Ghana.

According to the document intercepted by MYNEWSGH.com, the US military are to use Ghana as a base to deploy its soldiers and will “possess and carry arms in Ghana, while on duty if authorized to do so, by their orders, such authorization being made in consultation with the appropriate authorities of Ghana. Military personnel may wear their uniforms while performing official duties.”

According to the document, “United States Contractors shall not be liable to pay tax or similar charge assess within Ghana in connection with this agreement”. The US military is also authorized to control entry to the facilities meant for the exclusive use of their forces.

“This Agreement sets forth a framework for enhanced partnership and security cooperation between the Parties with the aims of strengthening their defence relationship further and addressing shared security challenges in the region, including those relating to the protection of Government personnel and facilities.

“This Agreement clarifies access to and use of agreed facilities and areas by United States forces, thereby facilitating training, including to maintain unit readiness, combined exercises, and other military engagement opportunities.”, it said.