Posted on: www.dailyguideghana.com
By William Yaw
Owusu
Wednesday April
13, 2016
The case in which two people are suing the government over the
importation of two Guantanamo Bay Detainees appears to be taking a new twist at
the Supreme Court.
This is because, the defendants made up of the Attorney-General and
the Minister of the Interior have filed a process averring that Ghana actually had
an existing agreement with the United States government regarding the two
detainees whose presence continues to spark public uproar.
The revelation by the AG is a sharp departure from the government’s
widely-held position that the acceptance of the two Al-Qaeda footsoldiers: Mahmud Umar Muhammad Bin Atef, 36 and
Khalid Muhammad Salih Al-Dhuby, 34, was purely a 'diplomatic arrangement
exercised through an executive power by the President'.
Unconstitutional
Action
The suit filed by filed by Magaret Bamfo an 86-year old retired Conference Officer of the Ministry of
Foreign Affairs and Henry Nana Boakye, a student of Ghana School of Law wants
the Supreme Court to declare that President John Mahama acted unconstitutionally
by accepting the Al-Qaeda terrorists to Ghana.
The case could not be heard yesterday as expected and as a result
adjourned until April 26, because a member of the panel of justices was said to
be indisposed.
On page 7 paragragh 3 of the
AG’s statement of case filed on March 16, the government said “we admit that
there exist an agreement between the two Government, which was reached by the
exchange of confidential diplomatic notes otherwise known as Note Verbales.”
Daily Guide has learnt that with the latest u-turn by the government,
it is expected that DE MEDEIROS & Associates, lawyers for the applicants
would be seeking to request that the said agreement be made available to them
for scrutiny.
Proper
Interpretation
The plaintiffs are seeking
among other reliefs a declaration that on a true and proper interpretation of
Article 75 of the1992 Constitution of Ghana, the President of the Republic of
Ghana acted unconstitutional by agreeing to the transfer of Mahmud Umar
Muhammad Bin Atef and Khalid Muhammad Salih Al-Dhuby (both profiled terrorist
and former detainees of Guantanamo Bay) to the Republic of Ghana without the
ratification by an Act of Parliament or a resolution of Parliament supported by
the votes of more than one-half of all the members of Parliament.
They are further seeking a declaration that on a true and proper
interpretation of Article 58(2) of the 1992 Constitution of Ghana, the
President of the Republic of Ghana who is under an obligation to execute and
maintain laws of Ghana breached the
Anti-terrorism Act of 2008 (Act 762) and the Immigration Act of 2000 (Act 573),
both being laws passed under the 1992 Constitution of Ghana.
It may be recalled that the Mahama administration early January
announced that Ghana would for the next two years host the terrorists who were
previously being held at Guantanamo Bay Naval Base in Cuba by the United
States.
The government had stated that Mahmud Umar Muhammad Bin Atef, 36, and Khalid Muhammad Salih Al-Dhuby, 34, are being offered
humanitarian assistance in Ghana under a deal signed by the Mahama
administration and US authorities.
It has turned that the two detainees are
hardcore terrorists who the US is looking for a place to dump them.
According
US security report on the two suspects; Mohammed Bin Atef was “a fighter in Usama bin
Laden’s former 55th Arab Brigade and he is an admitted member of the Taliban
He trained at al Farouq, the infamous al Qaeda training camp in
Afghanistan, “participated in hostilities against US and Coalition forces, and
continues to demonstrate his support of Usama Bin Laden and extremism.”
The plaintiffs aside cost for court expenses and counsel fees also
want the court to declare that on a true and proper interpretation of chapter 5
of the constitution the president by holding the two detainees under restricted
conditions without a court order was breaching their fundamental human
rights.
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