Mahama explains why he brought Guantanamo Bay detainees to Ghana

By: Samuel K. Obour

President John Mahama has defended his decision to accommodate two Guantanamo Bay ex-detainees in Ghana, stressing that they pose no threat to Ghana’s national security.

He said Ghana received them after the US requested that the country hosts them and having collaborated with America in several areas, including security and defence, the government of Ghana decided to oblige their request after determining that the two would not pose any danger to Ghana.

“As commander in Chief, the safety and security of this country is of concern to me than probably anybody [and] I will not take any decision that will jeopardise the security of this country,” he said adding that ex-detainees were never tried or convicted as terrorists and that they were only 20-years-old when they were picked up.

According to him, the two, ahmud Umar Muhammad Bin Atef and Khalid Muhammad Salih Al-Dhuby, were considered the most compliant detainees in Guantanamo.

The President said extensive background checks conducted by the US government itself and Ghana’s security agencies, revealed the two did not pose any threat to Ghana.

" We decided that we would do an assessment. America itself did and assessment and gave us their risk category. It was the lowest risk category," he said.

President Mahama also denied claims that he had received money from the US to accept the detainees, saying: “It’s absolutely, absolutely untrue.”

He said the US itself would have disclosed if there was any monetary benefit to Ghana.

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