“I don’t see anything so fearful with the two ex-Gitmo detainees” – Barima Sidney

• Posted on January 19, 2016
• by Nana Kwesi Coomson
• Comment

Controversial hip life artiste, Barima Sidney, thinks there is nothing wrong with Ghana providing a sanctuary for the two ex-Gitmo detainees.

He says the hype about the two is not necessary and has called on Ghanaians to focus on how to permanently solve the power crisis, the rising fuel prices and how to get a credible voters’ register.

“If the Guantanamo detainees are a threat to Ghana why do Ghanaians still travel abroad – there are more terrorists in the countries Ghanaians travel to,” Barima Sidney told Mike 2 on Adom Entertainment Hall.

“I don’t see anything so fearful with the two ex-Gitmo detainees – opposition parties should rather talk about issues that will help develop the nation – what is Gitmo 2” he said.

Even though President John Mahama says the former terror suspects were the most compliant at the notorious Guantanamo Bay prison and are of low risk, several reports, including one from Wikileaks indicate one of them is a high risk detainee and the other a medium risk detainee.

At least so far three of President Mahama’s cabinet Ministers claim they were not privy to the decision to bring in the two – Mahmud Umar Muhammad Bin Atef and Khalid Muhammad Salih Al-Dhuby.

Foreign Affair Minister, Hannah Tetteh is reported as saying Ghana is now looking for more information on the two, because “the US did not show us the Wikileaks report which said the two are of high security risk.”

Meanwhile, the US Congress and Senate have refused President Barack Obama’s move to send any of the ex-Gitmo detainees to American soil.

Again, according to an article in the US-based Wall Street Journal, President Obama’s taskforce report on the two indicate they were never cleared and freed from detention, but were tagged as “ready for transfer” and their coming to Ghana was deemed as “conditional detention”.

The Ghanaian public is skeptical about the presence of the former terror suspects in the country, with many saying they pose a threat to the nation’s security – something both the US and Ghana governments have been finding difficult to dispel.

The “Africa Money” hit singer thinks Ghanaians must trust in the government’s assurance that the country has the necessary security measures in place to quell any security threats the two former terror suspects might pose.

– myjoyonline