The Deputy Attorney General and Minister of Justice, Joseph Dindoick Kpemka appeared uninformed as he talked about the state of the coming in and subsequent handling of the controversial ex-detainees of Guantanamo Bay.
The Deputy AG, speaking on the newspaper review segment of TV3’s morning show, New Day said he had no knowledge of the current state of the GITMO 2 as regards their employment.
He was asked if he knew what job the former detainees were engaged in and under what law they would have done so.
In his response, the Member of Parliament for Tempani said, “This statement remains in the realms of speculation”.
“I cannot confirm if they are working….if they are, then they may have gone through all the necessary regulations and laws that are required.”
When questioned by the host as to his level of ignorance on the former GITMO detainees despite his portfolio as the Deputy AG, he reiterated that his caution was to avoid conjecture and delving into the issues of speculation.
“I will not come here and pretend to speak to things I don’t know…Those documents were not made known to me”.
He said documents and handling of the coming of Mahmud Umar Muhammad Bin Atef and Khalid Muhammad Salih Al-Dhuby were shrouded in secrecy, one of the reasons for the state of confusion and uncertainty about the former G-Bay detainees.
He, however, said: “As a group of people who live in a community of nations, we should be careful in what decisions we make as a country [in regard to the GITMO 2], since the agreement was between Ghana and another nation.
“The status quo has to be maintained.”
The Tempani MP said he was surprised at the surprise of the American ambassador’s lack of knowledge about decisions made about the refugee status of the terrorist suspects.
Deputy Foreign Minister Charles Owiredu had revealed on TV3’s News 360 that the two Yemenis were self-employed and running their own businesses.
Former Ablekuma Central MP Theophilus Tetteh-Chaie, who was on the show with the Deputy AG, deputy ministerial positions “need to be relooked at”.
He said Ministers should be made to assign specific roles to deputy ministers.
“Throughout the various governments, ministers have been reluctant in sharing information their deputies as was evidenced by the submissions of the Deputy AG”.
Mr Tetteh-Chaie, however, disagreed with the assertion by the Foreign Minister that the previous government has the current government’s hands tied by virtue of decisions made on the stay of the former G-Bay detainees.
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