General News of Thursday, 22 March 2018

Source: kasapafmonline.com

NDC regime tied us to Ghana-US Defense deal – Government

Dominic Nitiwul, Minister of Defence play videoDominic Nitiwul, Minister of Defence

The ruling NPP government has said it cannot back out of the Ghana-US Military cooperation agreement insisting the erstwhile NDC regime already sold out the country with two previous agreements signed in 1998 and 2015 by Rawlings and Mahama administrations.

Addressing a Press Conference in Accra on the matter, the Defense Minister said the current government decided to “clean up” the two agreements and to seek parliamentary ratification which was not done earlier when the two separate agreements were signed by the two former administrations.

“We have already signed a 1998 agreement, we have signed the 2015 agreement, and we have already caught ourselves in this net and we cannot back out because this is just a combination of the two agreements,” the Bimbilla MP said Wednesday afternoon.

The Government of Ghana on Tuesday presented before Parliament for ratification, a Memorandum of Understanding on defense cooperation between Ghana and the United States. The move will allow the US some space in the country to set up a base for its military forces.

Reports indicate Cabinet approved the MoU on March 8, 2018, and recommended to Parliament to ratify the agreement to allow the US forces and their equipment unhindered access into Ghana.