Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe has expressed his unhappiness about the decision by the Ghana government to accept to resettle two recently released detainees from Guantanamo Bay at the request of the United States government.
The two, Mahmud Umar Muhammed Bin Atlef and Khalid Muhammed Salih are from Yemeni origin and were transferred to be resettled in the West African country after spending years in the notorious prison.
They arrived in Ghana on Thursday January 7, 2016 for a two-year stay as part of a deal reached between the United States of America and the Government of Ghana.
The US government said in a statement that it has reached an agreement with the Ghana government for them to settle for two years and said they posed no security threat to the country despite they being linked with the terrorist group Al Qaeda in the past.
But President Mugabe who recently stepped down as head of the African Union said he was unhappy about the decision of the Ghana government to accommodate foreign refugees on the continent believing that it could have security connotations in Africa.
“I am not only heart broken or ashamed but I am scared for the first time in my life,” he said in a response to this, adding that greed and personal interests can put the lives of innocent citizens in danger.
“How on earth will Ghanaians sit and watch their government that such a drastic decision which is putting the lives of over 20 million citizens in danger without they caring less about it,” he added.
He expressed his anger in Ghanaians saying, “the people break my heart, they have disappointed me and even scared me for the first time in my life.” He blamed Ghanaians for causing this situation to happen, saying that they voted for this government and should also take part of the responsibility in rejecting it.
The decision of the Ghana government to accept in hosting these refugees has caused some firestorm controversy and outrage among a section of the population who have expressed fears about its security implications on the country.
However, the Ghana government has assured that the two have been cleared by the United States authorities and that they pose no threat whatsoever to the country despite being link to terrorist groups in the past.
But this the Zimbabwean President dispels, and he attacked the present regime for indulging in an act that could affect the country in the long run. “I am not sure the ex-Presidents would do same and Ghanaians should wake up on this,” he charged.
“The current President is a disgrace to Africa, now he is being obedient to America for another favour- the next elections and I think it’s time the opposition leaders get serious and vigilant to make their so-called democracy one to write home about.
The US government has also assured that the released detainees pose no threat to Ghana and that their release is inline with their policy to reduce the detainee population and close the detention facility at Guantanamo Bay in a responsible manner.
The new US Ambassador to Ghana, Robert Jackson, yesterday blamed the huge controversy surrounding the transfer of two Guantanamo Bay detainees to Ghana to lack of information.
Mugabe Ghana Citizenship
A top Ghanaian Legal practitioner Yoni Kulendi last year revealed that president Robert Mugabe holds Ghana’s diplomatic passport.
According to Kulendi , over the years Ghanaian diplomatic passports have been given to several foreign nationals, including former South African president Nelson Mandela and Zimbabwean president Robert Mugabe because of specific contributions or roles they are playing in the host country.
Mugabe has become a citizen of Ghana in 1950.
Citing examples, the legal practitioner revealed that, “People like Mandela, Mugabe they all once upon a time held Ghanaian passport not because they were refugees but because Ghana was collaborating to advance a certain international policy agenda that we believe in.”
It is not clear what the specific contributions Mugabe made in Ghana.
How Mugabe lost his Swiss bank account to Ghana
Back in 1958, when he was teaching in Ghana, Mugabe met fellow teacher and Ghanaian national Sally Hayfron and fell in love. He took Sally back to what was then Rhodesia, and the couple were married in St Peter’s Catholic Church in Harare.
Many difficult years later, Mugabe became President of newly independent Zimbabwe, and the couple moved into Harare’s majestic State House. Before long Mugabe took measures that echoed those of dictators all over the world. He robbed the national exchequer, and opened a bank account in Switzerland with the proceeds – some millions of dollars, apparently. However, anxious to avoid exposure by the western press, he cunningly put the account in Sally’s name.
Sally died of kidney failure in 1992 – a lasting pity because she had been a restraining influence on the man. But it left him free to marry his South African mistress, Grace. Then, naturally enough, he moved to take control of Sally’s Swiss account. But no. It was explained to him that under Ghanaian law the property of a wife goes, on her death, to her family. Not to her husband.
Sally’s Ghanaian relatives got the lot. Mugabe is said to have broken every window in State House.-ghondeck
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