Government is rectifying stay of Guantanamo detainees

The Information Minister, Mustapha Hamid says government have taken steps to rectify the illegal stay of the two Guantanamo detainees.

According to the Minister, government will under the supervision of the security agencies take prompt steps to address the consequential orders from the Supreme Court that said the agreement that brought the two to Ghana should be taken to Parliament for ratification.

The Supreme Court has ordered the government to send the agreement that brought the two ex-detainees from Guantanamo Bay (GITMO) to Ghana to Parliament for ratification.

The apex court said this should be done in the next three months else the government should send the two detainees back to the United States.

The court gave the consequential orders when it ruled on the case on Thursday morning.

The Supreme Court declared that the transfer of the two Guantanamo Bay (GITMO) ex-detainees to Ghana was unconstitutional.

Two Ghanaian citizens, Margaret Bamful and Henry Nana Boakye, sued the Attorney General and Minister of Justice, together with the Minister of Interior, accusing then-President John Mahama of illegally bringing in the two former Gitmo detainees, without recourse to the laws of the land.

The plaintiffs were seeking, among other reliefs, a “declaration that on a true and proper interpretation of Article 75 of the 1992 Constitution of Ghana, the President of the Republic of Ghana acted unconstitutionally by agreeing to the transfer of Mahmud Umar Muhammad Bin Atef and Khalid Muhammad Salih Al-Dhuby.”