Gitmo detainees pose no threat to Ghana – Gbevlo

Former National Security Coordinator Colonel Larry Gbevlo Lartey has said the two former detainees of the Guantanamo bay prison in Ghana pose no risk to the country.

According to him, a lot of security arrangements have been done to ensure that they are of no threat to the existing security integrity of the country.

The two- Mahmoud Omar Mohammed Bin Atef,36, and Khalid Shayk Mohammed, 34 – are in Ghana at the request of the US government.

Their presence has caused a massive public outcry with many, including key religious organisations calling on the government to return them.

But speaking to Kumasi-based Ultimate FM, the retired officer of the Ghana Armed Forces said Ghanaians must keep calm and trust the security agencies.

"Seriously the risk is very minimal, I don’t think they pose any risk at all… There are so many security arrangements and mechanisms that go on, which are not privy to the public, and for me I would say this is one of them,” he stated.

He added: “You need to understand the conditions those people are going to live here, there are serious arrangements when things like these are done, and I could see that these guys are going to live here virtually in some arrangements of house arrest. They are going to follow them, I don’t want to talk about the mechanisms, these are not people who are going to be walking around everywhere and hanging out with people…We have to look at vulnerability, how vulnerable are we, if there is a threat and we have made such arrangements that we are vulnerable, the risk is zero".