Ghana's apex court wants disclosure of 'unsigned' Gitmo deal with US

Ghana’s Supreme Court has ordered the government through the Attorney-General to disclose the circumstances surrounding the acceptance from the United States of two ex-detainees of Guantanamo Bay.

The apex court demanded an in camera disclosure after the government’s representative, Acting Solicitor General had told the court that the agreement between the two states (Ghana and the US) was a diplomatic communication prepared in the third person and unsigned.

Gitmo 2: Supreme Court orders in-camera presentation of Ghana-US deal https://t.co/4V3gQ8ByXC #Politics pic.twitter.com/lpf0WO4OfO

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The court ruled for the disclosure following a petition by two private citizens, Margaret Bamful and Henry Nana Boakye, who sued the Attorney General and Minister of Justice together with the Minister of Interior for Government’s decision to admit the two former terror suspects without recourse to the law.

The two were seeking among other reliefs a “declaration that on a true and proper interpretation of Article 75 of the 1992 Constitution of Ghana, the President of the Republic of Ghana acted unconstitutionally by agreeing to the transfer of Mahmud Umar Muhammad Bin Atef and Khalid Muhammad Salih Al-Dhuby.”

Ghana government in an agreement with the United States agreed to accept two ex Guantanamo Bay detainees. The decision however ruffled a wide range of Ghanaians citing the country’s exposure to terror attacks as a reason.

The next sitting of the court is slated for July 6, 2016.