US-Ghana Military Deal Has Expired; Renewal Not Necessary

The government has been advised not to rope in the National Democratic Congress (NDC) administration in its attempt to rationalise a controversial US-Ghana military cooperation agreement before Parliament.

The agreement has been criticised as a neo-colonial attempt to buy Ghana's sovereignty for $20 million.

Pushing back the backlash, the Defence Minister, Dominic Nitiwul, has said critics who believe Ghana is being sold off should blame the NDC because they signed similar agreements.

"Two years ago, Hanna Tetteh sold us, not us. In 1998, they sold us,” Mr. Nitiwul said at a news conference Wednesday.

But former Deputy Interior Minister, James Agalga has chided Defence Minister, Dominic Nitiwul, explaining that the 2018 agreement before parliament is a fresh opportunity for the Akufo-Addo government to defend the country's sovereignty.

He said on the Joy FM Super Morning Show Thursday, the agreement signed in 2015 under the Mahama administration has expired.

The suggestion that Ghana is bound to go into the current agreement, therefore, cannot be true, he pointed out after referring to the memo on the agreement asking for a renewal of military cooperation.

"Is there a provision ...which binds us to renew the so-called agreement at all cost upon expiration? My answer is a big no" he said.

A controversial aspect of the agreement is article 5.1 which requires Ghana provides "...unimpeded access to and use of agreed facilities and areas to United State forces, United States contractors, and others as mutually agreed."

"Such agreed facilities and area: or portions thereof, provided by Ghana shall be designated as either for exclusive use by United States forces or to be jointly used by United States forces and Ghana. Ghana shall also provide access to and use of a runway that meets the requirements of United States forces," the agreement noted.

But Mr. Agalga pointed that the enhanced 2018 agreement is totally different from what the country signed with the US in 1998 and 2015 both superintended over by NDC regimes.

"This particular article does not find a position in the earlier agreements we have had with the United States," he argued.

Deputy Interior minister James Agalga also rejected government's claim that the 2015 agreement is similar to the 2018 deal yet to be approved by Parliament.

But James Agalga who was a deputy Interior minister confessed he does not know the content of the 2015 agreement the Mahama administration signed. He said they were classified documents signed by the Foreign minister Hannah Tetteh.

It is this confidentiality which the NPP government appears disinterested in hence the decision to bring the 2018 deal to Parliament for ratification.

The Akufo-Addo government has indicated it wants to run as transparent a government as possible hence the decision to come to Parliament.

James Agalga says the government should produce the 2015 agreement if it wants to claim that the NDC government sold Ghana in previous military pacts.

A security analyst, Adam Bonna expressed surprise that the former deputy minister did not know the content of the 2015 agreement although it had implications for domestic security.

He has cautioned that the ceaseless discourse over a military cooperation agreement between Ghana and the US governments, could instigate an attack on the country.

“We are inviting terrorists that ‘you can come and hit us’ with the way this discussion is going,” a worried Bonna, Chief Executive Officer at Security Warehouse expressed on the Super Morning Show on Joy FM, Thursday.