The President addressed the Nation on the US-Ghana military Agreement that has generated intense salvos in the past few weeks. In his address, some people couldn't come to terms with the President's choice of words and the tone in which those words were spoken. According to those who had problems with the President's delivery, he displayed fury and failed in his bid to explain the issues, as they were, within the context of the US-Ghana military Agreement. I have had serious challenges with the said Agreement but these challenges have nothing to do with the content of the Agreement. The difficulty I expressed was in relation to the haste in which Parliament ratified the Agreement. But, aside the quick manner in which I felt it was passed, all other sentiments I did expressed concerning the Agreement were sparked from emotions and had little to do with an acquaintance with issues of diplomacy. The section of the Populace who reacted negatively to the Agreement out of emotions can be pardoned because their reactions were partly triggered by the "exaggerated" and "superfluous" immunities in the Agreement. Apparently, the minority fed the Populace with the exaggerations to score points.In other words, the minority in Parliament created the impression as if the diplomatic immunities in the Agreement were newly created and are peculiar only to US troops. The portrayed picture depicted an out of proportioned Diplomatic immunities traded to the United States military in exchange for a sum of $20 million as the worth of our Sovereignty . This twist and cunning way of deceiving the Populace was bad and it's still bad.
Having taken a hard toil to read portions of the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic immunity, it's clearly evident that the diplomatic immunities crafted into the Ghana-US military Agreement doesn't fall outside the approved Diplomatic immunities outlined in the Vienna Convention to which Ghana is a signatory. The only problem in this part of our world is that many people refuse to read and the few who read are less likely to comprehend the content of what they read. Those who comprehend what they read are often interested in bending the Truth for political gains.It's extremely sad on this occasion. I can see from the President's perspective and I deeply empathize and sincerely sympathize with him for his vents. It sucks to see people who ought to know better act as pretenders to deceive the vulnerable. In his speech, he reiterated that there has been older versions of this current military agreement that were clandestinely approved of by previous Administrations. Thus, the 1998 and 2015 Ghana-US military Agreement done undercover by past Government and the sad part of these Agreements was that the Ghana government didn't have copies of the Agreements until the current agreement under contention came to the Public domain. Surprisingly, copies of the previous Agreements were tendered in by the Partner in the Agreement, the United States.
One would have thought that the immediate reaction of the minority in Parliament after the President's address is to debunk and diffuse the President's claims that the current Agreement under contention has precendential lineage to the 1998 and 2015 Agreements that were illegally approved.They didn't do that but instead have chosen to maintain their momentum in playing on the emotional keyboard of the naive. The intellectual dishonesty being exhibited by the minority sparks anxiety among those of us who believe they have a responsibility to respond to the validity or falsity of the fact that this agreement wasn't birthed in 2018 and some clauses in the Agreement which they have raised concerns about have always been so in both the 1998 and 2018 Ghana-US military Agreement.
What about the claims being made by the minority that the President has traded our Sovereignty for $20 million? Apparently, this claim is an insult to the President and it doesn't end there but extends to the United States Government and the American people. In 2008 under the Millennium Development Agenda for which the Millennium Challenge Account was activated, the United States WILLINGLY and FREELY supported the program with an amount of $500 million. This happened under the tenures of President George W. Bush and President Kufour who signed the PACT on behalf of Ghana. For this simple reason, it is disingenuous for the Minority to descend to the level they have descended to in order to make people believe that Ghana's Sovereignty has been traded for $20 million. Think of this; $500 million for nothing in return except efficient management of the given amount and later $20 million to purchase our Sovereignty; does this make sense? Absolutely not and that's why the President is justified in using "strong" words as he was perceived to have done though I didn't see his delivery in such light. The claims by the minority are porous, childish and senseless. The Politically infested minds and busily speaking to the issues but making little or no sense. Some of the claims the minority are advancing to render the whole agreement as gimcrack are laughable and will not pass the test for a serious debate.
Initially, the minority expressed anxiety over the establishment of US military base here and this sentiment I bought into and sided with the minority because I felt that permitting the US to have a military base here was to go to the extreme. This can be discussed some other day. But, as it stands now and for whichever reason we were made to believe, the President made it clear in his speech that no US military base is to be built here and the United States hasn't requested for such offer and had no intention of requesting for same?This has been confirmed by the US Ambassador and he has refuted the claims of establishing a military base here. What I expect the minority to do is to tell the whole world that in fact the President had lied in his address and that what the US Ambassador, Mr. Jackson, had also refuted were false.
Interestingly, the goal post has been shifted and the initial substance of the disputations has been set aside. Instead, the tone and words the President used in his address have become the subject under discussion. What kind of dishonesty is this and what kind of Nation are we aiming to build?
No country in this world goes into an Agreement with another country to seek the interest of that country over theirs. Perhaps the US seeks its ultimate interest in any Agreement and this is the wisest thing any serious country does. This is why I find it weird hearing others accuse the United States of taking advantage of us and twisting our hands to usurp our sovereignty. Are we not an "Adult Nation" priding itself in over 60 years of Independence?
The President was excellent on his delivery and his choice of words suits the occasion. The hypocrisy and dishonesty are enough to elicit the kind of response the President gave. The hour has come and we expect the right thing to be done. I'm a CITIZEN not a SPECTATOR. God BLESS my Homeland Ghana 🇬ðŸ‡
#Benik#
***TheAppleOfGod'Eye***
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