The Government Of Ghana Must Ignore Politicians Criticising Its Decision To Give Refuge To The Two Ex-Guantanamo Bay U.S. Military Prison Detainees

The government of President Mahama should listen to the advice of those patriotic Ghanaians who say that their administration ought to stop discussing what is a national security matter in public.

For some of us, the advice that the government should simply ignore those of its political opponents who are criticising its decision to give refuge to the two ex-Guantanamo Bay U.S. military prison detainees, Khalid Muhammad Salih Al-Dhuby and Mahmaud Umar bin Atef - and stop trying to justify acceding to the request from the U.S. administration for same - is pragmatic advice they would be wise to heed.

Each government of the day is in charge of the security of Ghana - not its critics: who, if they knew how important our collaboration with the U.S. security services is, to our own ability to secure our country, in an age of global terrorism, would probably not be saying many of the things they have been saying.

If those cynical politicians now criticising the presence of the two ex-Guantanamo Bay U.S. military prison detainees in Ghana, were in government themselves, and aware of the importance of Ghana's security services' collaboration with the U.S. security services, they would also have agreed to give refuge to the two, if the U.S. government had approached their regime.

Paradoxically, there are Progressives and nationalists in Ghana - myself included -  who loathe a lot of the exploitative and imperialist policies of the U.S. in the developing world; however, when it comes to the fight against global terrorism, we are quite keen that our security services should cooperate with the security agencies of the U.S., and other world powers.

Is it not precisely such collaboration between our sister nation Nigeria  and the special forces of the U.S. and other nations that has led to the tide gradually turning  against the murderous extremists who want Boko Haram to enslave Nigerians and their country?

It is such a pity that so many fair-minded Ghanaians, don't seem to realise that those cynical politicians busy criticising the government's decision to allow in the two ex-Guantanamo Bay U.S. military prison detainees,  would definitely not be taking the unhelpful positions they have now taken - and would not be making some of the absurd statements they have been making recently on the issue - if they were in power today.

And the irony is that they would probably be questioning the sincerity of many of those now questioning the wisdom in the government of Ghana giving refuge to the two ex-Guantanamo Bay U.S. military prison detainees,  if they were in government themselves today.

Furthermore, many of those politicians bringing up past reports from the U.S. Defense Department, on the two, are just playing politics with a delicate matter.

They know perfectly well that those self-serving U.S. Defense Department reports they are quoting, were lies insisted on by the extreme right-wing masters-of-the-universe, then in power in the U.S., who launched those unjust and pointless wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, in which the lives of tens of thousands of young Americans, Britons, Germans, Spaniards, etc., etc., have been lost so tragically.

Those past U.S. Defense Department reports now being used by some Ghanaian politicians to criticise the presence of the two ex-Guantanamo Bay U.S. military prison detainees in Ghana, were designed  to justify the unjustifiable abuse of the human rights of people seized in swoops, by Western coalition forces in Iraq and Afghanistan, which netted many innocent people who happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time, when the Western coalition forces launched raids to capture supposed terrorists. Some eventually ended up in the U.S. military's Guantanamo Bay prison.

Let us be realistic. Terrorists will strike when they will - not because of the presence in Ghana of Khalid Muhammad Salih Al-Dhuby and Mahmaud Umar bin Atef. What is important is that we can continue to collaborate with a key ally in the fight against global terrorism, the U.S., to prevent such attacks as far is humanly possible.

President Mahama and his appointees must stop the pointless discussion of what is a national security matter in the open, henceforth. It is not wise to allow this matter to be turned into a political football - by desperate and cynical politicians who are desperate to win power:  and will clutch at every straw that comes their way.

It does our nation no good in the long run for our leaders to discuss such security  matters in the open.

The government of the day is in charge of the safety of the Republic - not the general public: who lack all the necessary information needed to make proper judgements on sensitive security matters.

If it is not possible to share such information with the  general public, for security reasons, then it is enough that the government of Ghana gives Ghanaians the assuarance that Khalid Muhammad Salih Al-Dhuby and Mahmaud Umar bin Atef pose no danger to Ghanaians and their country. What the government's cynical political opponents say as regards this particular national security issue is of no import whatsoever. Many of them are not being sincere. The  government must simply ignore their grandstanding. Period. End of story.