An
International Relations expert is urging government to listen to wise counsel
by renegotiating the terms under which two suspected terrorists from GuantanamoBay are being held in the country.
Dr Vladimir Antwi Danso says there is likely to be a problem in
the future if government remains adamant on the matter.
He was reacting to a new twist to the Gitmo scandal which saw twoYemeni terror suspects detained in Guantanamo Bay for 14 years but later
transferred to Ghana under very controversial circumstances.
Just when the issue appeared to be settling down, four US Senators
have headed to the Appropriations Committee demanding that foreign aid be
withheld from Ghana if the two Gitmo detainees, Mahmoud Omar Mohammed Bin Atef
and Khalid Mohammed Salih al Dhuby should
escape from Ghana.
The four, Mark Kirk, R-Ill.; Roy Blunt, R-Mo.; James Lankford,
R-Okla.; and Steve Daines, R-Mont., are not convinced Ghana is in
no position to hold these suspected terrorists given what they say is
Ghana's poor security record.
They argue the country's prison is overcrowded and cited recent
escape of incarcerated prisoners, as some worrying development for a country
that has agreed to take on two terror suspects.
To put more
pressure on the West African country, the senators are asking that an upcoming
appropriations bill must include cutting aid to Ghana by $10 million per
detainee “in the event either of these detainees escape from confinement or
reengages in terrorism” while in their custody.
But the demands by the American senators have angered some
Ghanaians.
Vladimir Antwi Danso in an interview with Joy News' Evans Mensah
cannot understand why the US will assume a coercive posture in dealing with a
matter they created.
"I am astounded by this. It is like carry my burden for me
but then if you can't carry it i am going to punish you. This kind of coercive
diplomacy is not to be expected in this kind of situation. In any case it is an
American burden and i thought there would have been a mutually respectful kind
of relationship where the Gitmo detainees are concerned.
"This kind of coercion is what i don't understand. What did
we go in for? Normally coercive diplomacy comes in when the other side is doing
something untoward to the other. But i think we have been made to believe this
is a mutually beneficial kind of agreement we had with the Americans.
"Where is the coercion coming from? There is something
missing in the equation i don't understand," he said.
Asked what government can do under the situation, Dr Antwi Danso
said the government must "listen to good advice take it on board very
seriously because this threat is no easy threat.
He said if ISIS Al-qaeda makes it possible for these terrorists to
run away in Ghana, the country will be in trouble.
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