‘Unproven’ ISIS revelation by Minority MPs condemned

• Posted on October 11, 2017
• by Nana Kwesi Coomson
• Comment

The Minority MPs have been accused of acting irresponsibly by going public with an unproven report that alleges that some Ghanaians have been radicalized into the ISIS terrorist network.

Chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee of Parliament, Frank Annoh Dompreh, says the Minority MPs should have acted more responsibly considering the sensitive nature of the matter and also because the authenticity of the said report is yet to be backed by a  credible international agency.

The ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP) MP for Nsawam-Adoagyiri Constituency in Eastern Region, is convinced the false revelations are only meant to cause fear and panic.

The Libyan report

Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa

A ranking member of Parliament’s Foreign Affairs Committee, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, at a press conference in Accra on Tuesday, October 10, 2017, called on the government to as a matter of urgency state its position on the ISIS threat posed by some alleged radicalized citizens.

He alleged that information gathered from Libya suggests that Ghana is the second highest country that contributes fighters to Islamist terror group in Libya.

“Rather worrying for Ghana, we are considered to be among the second highest category of 50 – 100. This has been explained by the Attorney-General’s Office in Libya to mean between 50 to 100 Ghanaian migrants in Libya have been identified as active frontline fighters of ISIS in Libya,” Mr Ablakwa said at the press conference.

Ghana appears in this category with seven other countries namely Senegal, Gambia, Chad, Niger, Eritrea, Mali and Somalia.

Only Tunisia, Egypt, Sudan and Libya were found to have more Islamic State fighters than the category Ghana finds itself.

Mr Okudzeto also alleged that Ghanaian ISIS fighters were involved in abductions and other grave criminal activities.

“A special enquiry found out that kidnapping was done by Islamic State foreign fighters from Ghana, Turkey and Tunisia,” he said.

The opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) Parliamentarian for North Tongu said the information was contained in highlights of a report presented at a press meeting in Tripoli recently.

The Minority is, therefore, calling for a reaction to the information provided by the Libyan Attorney General’s office “due to its grave ramifications to Ghana’s image”.

Frank Annoh-Dompreh

Mischievious press statement

Reacting to the call, the Chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee of Parliament, Annoh Dompreh, said he suspects mischief.

“If a report has been put out there by another republic of which its authenticity of the report has not been proven, all you need to do, as a responsible Minority, is to report this matter to the state agencies for an investigation to be conducted,” Mr Dompreh was not enthused.

He said the Foreign Affairs Ministry is aware of the report and investigation has begun to establish the authenticity of the claims contained in the report.

“What is important is that the Ministry is conducting an investigation into the matter and so for anybody to allege that the Ministry is aware and is not doing anything about it is neither here nor there,” he said.