One of the plaintiffs who challenged the decision by ex-president John Mahama to accept into Ghana two terror suspects has welcomed the ruling by the Supreme Court.

Nana Boakye, who is the Deputy Head of the National Service Scheme (NSS) said they wanted the right thing to be done by government and not necessarily to demand a repatriation of the terror suspects.  

“I am happy for mother Ghana, Constitutional rule, the supremacy of the constitution and parliament. It is not because the Supreme Court said then President Mahama had acted unconstitutionally but it will set a good precedence not only for presidents to come but public officers in higher authority,” he said.

He said such officers would see the writing clearly on the wall that they cannot massage the law to their whims and caprices.

According to him, the ruling was clear that such transactions, be it diplomatic arrangement or not, must come to Parliament for ratification as stipulated in Article 75 of the 1992 Constitution .

The Article (75) (2) reads: "A treaty, agreement or convention executed by or under the authority of the President shall be subject to ratification by- (a) Act of Parliament; or (b) a resolution of Parliament supported by the votes of more than one-half of all the members of Parliament."

There was a huge controversy in January 2016 when the president decided to admit to Ghana two terror suspects- Muhammed Al-Dhuby and Muhammed Bin-Atef- into the country.

The two had been held in Guantanamo Bay by the US for over 14 years on suspicion of being part of the September 11 terrorist attack in the US that claimed dozens of lives in the US.

The two were picked up in Yemen in 2002, sent to Guantanamo Bay where they were held for more than a decade until ex-president John Mahama decided to accept the two into Ghana’s jurisdiction as part of President Barack Obama's efforts to close down the Guantanamo Bay detention center.

Bin Atef

The reason for accepting the suspects was not explained but the decision triggered widespread criticisms from the then opposition NPP, civil society organisations and religious groups.

The ex-president in defence of the action said the two suspects were innocent young boys who were picked up in their countries, jailed for years without trial and deserved some compassion.

He appealed to Ghanaians to host the two suspects at least for two years.

But Nana Boakye and an 86-year-old retired conference officer at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Margarette Banful were not impressed with the president’s appeal for compassion.

They decided to challenge the decision in court.

The court in a 6-1 majority decision ruled the action by the then president was in breach of Article 75 of the constitution which required that all international agreements be brought before Parliament for ratification.

Speaking to Joy News, Nana Boakye said almost all their reliefs were granted, except the one asking for the suspects to be sent back. 

The court after declaring the action of the ex-president as unconstitutional went further to direct the current government to either ratify the stay of the two suspects in Parliament or have them repatriated. The court gave the government three months within which to ratify their stay in Parliament.

Despite being appointed into government, Nana Boakye hoped the Akufo-Addo administration will uphold the law and do the right thing.

He did not understand why the previous government decided to act in secrecy on a matter as important as allowing terror suspects into the country.

“There should transparency in governance,” he said questioning why the then Attorney General Marietta Brew Oppong said the said agreement is of confidential nature, which would breach a security arrangement.