Nkrumah would’ve accepted GITMO two - KB Asante

K.B. Asante - Retired Diplomat

An elder Statesman K.B Asante has condemned the public outrage that has characterized government’s decision to accommodate two ex-Guantanamo Bay detainees in Ghana.

The former diplomat under Osagyefo Dr. Kwame Nkrumah has stated the first President of Ghana would have welcomed the two.

Mahmud Umar Muhammad Bin Atef and Khalid Muhammad Salih Al-Dhuby will be living in the country for the next two years following an agreement between Ghana and the US. Government has been assuring Ghanaians the two ex-detainees of Yemeni origin pose no threat to the country as their activities will be closely monitored.

President Mahama went further to reveal the duo is being housed in a national security compound. But this has not completely allayed the public fears. The Christian Council and the Catholic Bishops Conference have all called on the president to send the two back.

The flagbearer of the opposition New Patriotic Party Nana Addo has also called for the rejection of the terrorism suspects. However, speaking to Starr News, Asante said the harsh criticism against the decision are borne out of ignorance.

“I don’t think people understand the issues. It’s a pity that the problem has not been properly explained to Ghanaians and that many people have forgotten what happened some 10 years ago in America and what happened in Guantanamo Bay… I was with Kwame Nkrumah, if we had been faced with a situation like this, he would’ve allowed them to come subject to certain questions and understanding with the Americans”.

Mr. Asante wants the government of Ghana to use the good gesture towards the United States to ask for help.

“We should ask for something, assistance, not monetary or any other but real assistance in the matter of security because let’s face fact and if you don’t face facts in this world you go haywire, the Americans we may not like them - I’m not pro-American but they have methods. They have the facilities to follow these people, to tell us what these people are,” he stated.