Ex-Guantanamo Bay detainees: OccupyGhana to seek court action

OccupyGhana, a pressure group  says it will head to court if government fails to provide answers to some 23 questions it has posed about the decision to shelter two former Guantanamo Bay detainees in Ghana. The group says government must indicate the full legal status it has granted to the two ex-detainees and also disclose the agreement between Ghana and the USA. OccupyGhana also wants to know if Parliament or any of its Committees at any point in time was briefed on government’s decision to accept the detainees. “If Parliament or any of its Committees was involved, kindly furnish the name(s) and the date(s),” the pressure demands.

OccupyGhana’s letter to the Foreign Minister forms part of fierce criticism against the John Mahama-led administration’s decision to accept Mohammed Omar Bin Atef and Khalid Muhammad Salih Al-Dhuby from the United States. Spokesperson Nana Sarpong Agyeman-Badu believes the pressure group’s action is backed by law. “We are doing this based on a constitutional article, Article 21 (f) which gives us the right to information.

We do not have to wait for a Freedom of Information Bill to be passed which we know is being deliberately delayed, but our Constitution gives us a right to information,” he said. OccupyGroup is hoping the court will compel government to provide answers to the 23 questions it has asked.