Mr. Ablakwa who doubles as the ranking member for the Parliamentary Select Committee on Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration in an open letter to the Minister of National Security, Mr. Albert Kan-Dapaah, said it was time the government become more trapsparent about Mahmud Umar Muhammed Bin Atef and Khalid Muhammad Salih Al-Dhuby.
The letter which was circulated to the media houses in Accra on Thursday, said the government’s silence on their whereabouts, one year after promising to relocate them represents a breach of the law.
“Respectfully, it is my considered view that after a full year of patiently waiting on government, it is imperative that in this matter, which is of enormous national interest, you provide an update to the Ghanaian people as good governance principles of transparency and accountability will demand”, he stated in the letter.
“It is my humble expectation that you will now provide the update requested with dispatch,” he added.
The two Yemenis were resettled in Ghana in January 2016 following an agreement between then President John Dramani Mahama’s government and then US President Barack Obama’s administration which generated controversy in Ghana.
Bin Atef and Al Dhuby were detained at the Guantanamo Bay for 14 years after they were linked to the terrorist group, Al-Qaeda but were later released as part of a US government plan to shut down the facility.
However, their stay in Ghana ended on January 6, 2018, but the New Patriotic Party (NPP) government announced last year that it had given the pair status and that they could now engage in their businesses.
This did not go down well with the general public.