Majority Leader Mahama Ayariga has dismissed claims by the Minority in Parliament that the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between Ghana and the United States on the deportation of some West African nationals should have been ratified by Parliament.

Speaking in Parliament, Mahama Ayariga maintained that the agreement did not require parliamentary approval, insisting that the government had acted within the confines of the law based on sound legal advice.

“The issue of the need for parliamentary ratification of the agreement with the United States to receive ECOWAS citizens being repatriated back to the sub-region has been widely debated. If the appropriate legal advice to this house is that we should ratify it, we will consider so,” he stated.

The Majority Leader, however, emphasised that the government’s decision to go ahead with the arrangement was in Ghana’s best interest, adding that it had led to the lifting of visa restrictions previously imposed by the United States.

“I can say with authority that the Majority approves of the arrangement and highly commends the government for negotiating the removal of the US visa restrictions on Ghanaians. Given our business and social ties to America, these restrictions were going to be extremely burdensome to many Ghanaian businesses and families,” he said.

The Minority in Parliament had earlier raised constitutional concerns over the MoU, arguing that any agreement involving Ghana’s foreign relations should be brought before Parliament for ratification.

Civil society group Democracy Hub has since filed a suit at the Supreme Court, seeking clarification on the legality of the agreement.

The deportation MoU, signed earlier this year, forms part of a broader diplomatic arrangement aimed at facilitating the return of undocumented West African migrants in the United States to their home countries.