Sitting in the living room changing channels. Boredom setting in even at 7am. Den the headlines "Gitmo detainees to be sent to Ghana.
I wondered to myself was I watching a satirical show or Fox News just lost thier mind. Switching channels to Al Jazeera and the headlines were scrolling at the bottom of the screen " Ex- Guatanamo bay detainees to be sent to Ghana.
Jaw dropped, heart sunk, and crest falling I turned on the radio to find out if other Ghanaians had heard. There airs a radio show with the host asking. "So why weren't we the citizenry told beforehand.?" That stammering answer could only tell how profoundly embarrassing this was to the government They obviously hadn't been ready for this scandal. "Let's meet and formulate an explanation to tell the people" the president must be thinking. The foreign minister must be thinking "and our responses should be in sync with each other."
John Mahama by now had now lost all confidence I once reposed in him. This makes a hundred and one times bitten and we kept giving him the benefit of doubt. "That man is obviously a good communicator and would win lots of hearts immediately he comes to speak I said to myself". Mahama was true to my thoughts, he came to give the most heart warming speech I've seen him give till date. He used the oldest trick in the book "Appeal to Pity". This is a tactic lawyers use on judges when they want minimal sentences for the accused. (See ken kuranche, kwaw kese, atubiga). All left off the hook with this tactic.
JDM played our emotional chords very well and most Ghanaians danced along with the tune.
He asked "if we call ourselves a Christian nation why won't we show compassion to these two." The logic in this is very misplaced. Spirituality and diplomacy should never be interwoven. I won't go into the debate as to the threat these two pose as most us have already heard enough on radio and social media.
Oh wait, did I hear the foreign minister say "the threat these two pose is minimal and the Ghanaian security forces can deal with any threat they might pose". Such gibberish!!! We live in a country where parcels of cocaine magically transform into "kokonte" while in the custody of the police, in no other place but the police headquarters. Keep telling us to trust the police.
Now how did we fall so low?? Could it be one of the IMF bailout conditions??
Could it be that the people we entrusted the nation with have betrayed us for pieces of silver?
As I watched fox news the following morning the US rep on set was asked if we were benefitting in anyway from the deal she said yes. When asked in what way, she responded. "It's embarrassing" refusing to mention the precise consideration.
All of this begs the question as to whether we indeed did any due diligence on the two.
The foreign minister at a press briefing was asked about the leaked document " we were not privy to this information during the negotiations" was her scant response.
What beats my imagination is the courage with which she manages to keep spewing out such remarks. Hmmmph.
We shall see.
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