By Godwill Arthur-Mensah, GNA
Accra, April 09, GNA - Mr Irbard Ibrahim, an International Public Relations Expert, has said the Government had made a perfect foreign policy decision in the Ghana-US Military Agreement co-operation and would consolidate the bilateral ties between the two nations.
He said the US had been a strategic partner to Ghana on so many areas, therefore, the President could not turn down the offer, which would enhance security in the country and the sub-region at large.
He said the brouhaha that had characterised the deal was similar to the debate that surrounded the Guantanamo Bay detainees, noting that, in those two instances, the government of Ghana made perfect foreign policy decisions.
Mr Irbard, who is the Executive Director of the IRBARD Security Consult told the Ghana News Agency in an interview on Monday in relation to the President’s address on the pact.
He said President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo used the address to explain knotty issues concerning the Agreement and should, therefore, bring finality to the rancour generated by the agreement.
“There is no need to be partisan or emotional about this because just like the GITMO Two, it is difficult for a sitting President of a third world nation like Ghana to say no to the United States in a unipolar world order just like what we have in our contemporary times,” he pointed out.
“For instance, the Gitmo two was seen as an avenue to open us to militant attacks, and I said no at that time because there was no iota of veracity in that claim, and two years down the line the two Gitmo detainees did not even kill a fly,” he observed.
Regarding the issue of US military personnel having unlimited access to Ghana’s Military installations, Mr Ibrahim noted that, the US already had access to the nation’s security installations even without the security co-operation because we imported most of the weaponry from the US.
“We don’t have warships of our own and since we did not manufacture them here, including the armoured vehicles, missiles, bombs, and so on…there is nothing hiding from them,” Mr Ibrahim stated.
With regards to the President being harsh on his critics, Mr Ibrahim suggested to the President to be tolerant to divergent views in order to consolidate the country’s fledgling democracy.
Meanwhile, Mr Emmanuel Kotin, the Executive Director of the Institute of Security and Counter Terrorism, told the GNA that, the Ghana-US military deal would not inure to the benefit of the country.
He said the agreement was signed on weak legal framework and would risk the security of the nation in the short, medium and long term and, thus, called for a review of the deal.
Mr Kotin said the US did not have permanent friends, but had permanent interest, noting that, if the deal goes wrong in the future, the entire nation would suffer the dire consequences.
He criticised the President for tagging those who opposed the military deal as anti-Americans, saying, “The President used his address to pitch a section of Ghanaians against the US, and this is not good for our democracy”.
Mr Kotin said he had filed a suit at the Supreme Court to seek interpretation of Article 75 of the 1992 Constitution and noted that, the outcome of the case would help in clarifying certain provisions in the agreement.
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