Government has no problem sending Gitmo detainees - Deputy Sports Minister

Deputy Minister of Sports, Pius Enam Hadzide has called on Ghanaians to remain calm and allow the Government of Ghana to undergo the necessary processes regarding the extradition of the two Gitmo detainees in the country.

Speaking on Peace FM's 'Kokrokoo' on Friday, June 23, the Deputy Minister told host Kwami Sefa Kayi that in as much as the citizenry would want to see the Gitmo detainees out of the country; the government must work within the remits of the law.

The Supreme Court on Thursday, June 22, ruled that the stay of the detainees is unconstitutional and so directed the government to bring the issue before Parliament within 3 months to determine the fate of the detainees.

Following the court ruling, several critics have argued that the government should immediately send the detainees out of the country without bringing the issue before Parliament.

The NSS Deputy Executive Director, Nana Boakye on the Friday edition of 'Kokrokoo' opined that the matter should be laid before Parliament for them to engage in the decision making process.

Countering the submission by the NPP Stalwart, Nana Boakye, on the programme was Kwesi Pratt, Managing Editor of the Insight newspaper who stressed that the government should sack the detainees from the country with immediate effect.

He wondered why the detainees are still in Ghana following the court ruling which makes the stay of two detainees, Mahmud Umar Muhammad Bin Atef and Khalid Muhammad Salih Al-Dhuby, unconstitutional.

But according to the Deputy Sports Minister, the detainees cannot just be hurled into a plane and returned to the United States or their country without due process.

He said there are procedures and arrangements to follow before such decision can be reached.

He dismissed claims purporting that the Nana Addo government is backing down on her calls on the previous government to repatriate the detainees.

He told host Kwami Sefa Kayi that the detainees are not friends of the government, saying “we don’t have any relationship with these people. We don’t have a problem of taking them back. But the point is that, I’m saying that, the Government of Ghana – John Mahama’s Government of Ghana had an arrangement to bring them in. Even if we going to take them back, we now need to have an arrangement with US government to take them back…But I believe that the Supreme Court gave the judgment in the manner that they gave it so that they can satisfy the purposive rule of the law. If you don’t do it that way, it’s chaotic”.