Ghana-US agreement: Nitiwul is weak – Security Analyst

Security analyst David Agbee has said permitting the United States of America (USA) to set up a military base in the country will be a sign of weakness on the part of Ghana’s Defence Ministry.

A cabinet-approved document agreeing on granting access to the USA to establish a military base in Ghana, has been leaked and widely circulated in the media.

According to the document, Ghana has agreed to bear the cost and take primary responsibility for securing U.S. military facilities in the country. The contract also said Ghana has granted U.S contractors tax exemption.

Reacting to this development on 12Live on Class91.3FM on Tuesday, 20 March 2018, Mr Agbee condemned the move and cautioned that it will undermine the country’s national security.

He said: “If this deal is signed, Ghana will never see peace again. I’m hesitant to talk about this matter because I’m scandalised that some document of this nature could come into public domain and this document could actually emanate from cabinet, this document could emanate from the seat of government, this document could emanate from a Defence Minister suggests to me clearly that we have very weak people manning the Defence Ministry.

“They do not understand that this agreement, if it is a reality, is going to undermine our national security and cause harm to Ghanaians and the West African sub-region as a whole. I can never understand that in our century, this thing could happen. Ghana is going to be the greatest enemy to the West African sub-region if this document is approved by parliament of the Republic of Ghana.”

Mr Agbee added that: “In my security understandings, United States has been looking for a weak government on the Africa continent and the West African sub-region to be able to install their security accoutrements and their personnel for so many years now. They’ve been looking for a weak government that they can actually penetrate, and, so, for this document to be coming from somebody who calls himself Minister of Defence, I think that we are threading dangerously in Ghana.”

Meanwhile, Defence Minister Dominic Nitiwul has denied reports that Ghana has agreed that the USA set up a military base in the country.

Mr Nitiwul said on Tuesday, 20 March that: "The United States of America is not establishing a military base in Ghana, at all…it is not true and they do not intend to do that, not at all.”

“There is no military base anywhere and people are running home with it as if the US has come to establish a base here…it is not true, please,” he stressed.

According to him, the document in circulation which the media has jumped on to publish stories about an intended U.S military base in Ghana, is just a “defence cooporation agreement” between the U.S and Ghana as far as soldiers of the two countries are concerned.

“This agreement is not the first time”, Mr Nitiwul said, adding that there have been similar ones between Ghana and the U.S since 1997.

He said the document is being tabled before parliament because: “I have no authority to grant tax waivers.”

To him, the agreement will consolidate a strategic partnership between the two countries in the fight against terrorism.