Ghana First Patriotic Front to hold forum on Ghana-US military pact

As part of activities to intensify pressure on government to withdraw the Ghana-US Military Cooperation Agreement, the Ghana First Patriotic Front (GFPF), is hosting a public forum on April 11 this year to solicit more support on the issue.

According to the group, the forum formed part of a number of activities including the #PutGhanaFirst Demonstration, held last week, which would be replicated in all ten regions to gather national support against the agreement.

A statement signed and issued Wednesday by Edem Agbana, Covener and Obeng Agyenim-Boateng, Communications Director of the group, said Obed Yao Asamoah, former Minister of Foreign Affairs, Brigadier General Joseph Nunoo- Mensah, former Chief of Defence Staff, Dr. Ken Ahorsu, Senior Research Fellow, Legon Centre for International Affairs and Diplomacy (LECIAD), University of Ghana, Haruna Iddrisu, Minority Leader in Parliament and Kwesi Pratt Jnr., Managing Editor, Insight newspaper are speakers for the event.

It would be held at the University of Ghana Law Faculty Auditorium in Accra at 4pm on the said date.

The statement said despite the opposition the agreement had generated, the GFPF was shocked at the intransigence and defiance of the government to carry out its plans to permit the establishment of a permanent military base for the United States Armed Forces in Ghana.

It said in response to the demonstration against the agreement last week, the government has only engaged in unconvincing and unpatriotic propaganda in a desperate attempt to shift blame to previous governments.

The statement said the government’s desperate attempts at equalisation and unending cycle of contradictions on this crucial issue of national sovereignty cannot be countenanced.

In view of the adamant posture of the government on the issue, the statement said GFPF has resolved to intensify pressure on the government to withdraw the agreement for reconsideration.

It said the group remains resilient and would not countenance any attempt by the government to compromise Ghana’s sovereignty.

The protest follows the ratification by Parliament of an agreement between the governments of Ghana and the United States of America (USA) on defence cooperation, the status of the US forces, access to and use of agreed facilities in some areas in Ghana.

The agreement is to set a framework for enhanced partnership and security cooperation between the USA and Ghana with the aim of strengthening their defence relationship further.

However, the Minority in Parliament and other groups including GFPF has chastised government for agreeing to some of the terms, describing it as an attempt to sell the sovereignty of the country.