Gitmo saga: Stop insulting Christian leaders – Ace

OccupyGhana member, Ace Ankomah, has condemned the raining of insults on Christian leaders who recently came out to demand that two ex-detainees from Guantanamo Bay, who were transferred to Ghana for a two-year stay, be sent back.

Mr Ankomah said the Christian leaders are Ghanaians just like anybody, and, so, have every right to speak about issues that affect every Ghanaian.

The Christian Council of Ghana (CCG), Ghana Catholic Bishops’ Conference (GCBC), the Presbyterian Church of Ghana and the Ghana Pentecostal and Charismatic Council (GPCC), as well as the Shia Muslim community in Ghana have all condemned the decision to host the two ex-detainees in Ghana.

President John Mahama, at a press conference last week, asked the agitated Christian leaders to be compassionate toward Bin Atef and Al-Dhuby.

“The Bible instructs Christians to be compassionate to prisoners – that is even persons, who have been convicted – so, where is our faith-based compassion on these people, who have been detained for 14 years without trial and we can’t find it in our hearts to give them, at least, a chance to restart their lives?” he wondered.

In an interview with Class News after the president’s appeal, President of the Ghana Catholic Bishops’ Conference, Most Rev. Joseph Osei-Bonsu advised the President to “balance compassion with common sense. We need to be compassionate with people in need and try to help refugees and so on, but we have to balance compassion with sense,” he insisted.

“If we have reasons to believe that these people are dangerous, we are under no obligation to take them in Ghana. They can go to their own country and the people there can show compassion to them, but we do not have any obligation,” he emphasised.

That response attracted harsh language against the various Christian leaders from some officials of the governing National Democratic Congress (NDC).

But Mr Ankomah and the OccupyGhana fraternity, who have declared Friday January 20 as ‘#RedFriday’ to show discontent against what, in their opinion, is a mishandling of the country by the government, told Joy FM’s Super Morning Show host, Kojo Yankson, that the Guantanamo affair is as important to the Christian leaders just as it is to every Ghanaian, thus, they cannot be gagged from speaking against it.

Mr Ankomah, on his Facebook wall, has urged Ghanaians to join the #RedFriday protest, saying: “I am wearing red (all shades allowed) today because I am sick and tired of being sick and tired at incompetence and ineptitude. #?RedFriday? is easy. Wear something red, take a picture, post it on social media, and say why you are in red.”