Ratify Gitmo 2 deal or send them back - Supreme Court

The Government of Ghana has been ordered by the country’s Supreme Court to send to parliament for ratification, the agreement between its government and the United States that allowed the transfer of two former Guantanamo Bay detainees to be transferred to Ghana in January 2016.

The agreement was reached between the Obama and Mahama administrations which are no more in office.

According to the apex court, it was unconstitutional for the transfer to have taken place without parliamentary approval.

The court has, therefore, ordered that the anomaly be rectified within three months or the ex-detainees returned to the US.

A seven-member panel chaired by Chief Justice Sophia Akuffo reached the ruling by a 6-1 majority, with only Justice William Atuguba dissenting.

It will be recalled that two plaintiffs, Margaret Bamful and Henry Nana Boakye, sued the Attorney General and Minister of Justice as well as the Minister of the Interior in 2016, accusing government of illegally bringing in the two former Gitmo detainees without recourse to the laws of the land.

The two plaintiffs, therefore, sought a true and proper interpretation of Article 75 of the 1992 Constitution of Ghana arguing that Mr Mahama as President acted unconstitutionally by agreeing to the transfer of Mahmud Umar Muhammad Bin Atef and Khalid Muhammad Salih Al-Dhuby without recourse to Parliament.

The two ex-detainees are expected to be in the country for two years.