An International relations analyst, Ishmael Hlorvor, has downplayed concerns that Ghana’s acceptance of deportees from the United States will damage the country’s global standing.
Speaking on The Pulse on JoyNews on Wednesday, September 24, he argued that such arrangements only become problematic when they bypass parliamentary approval.
“I don’t think it has any implications for your global outlook; rather, if we continue receiving them without parliamentary approval, without open scrutiny by Parliament, that is worrying,” he said on the show.
“Giving the history of this nature of transaction, it is just appropriate that they present it before Parliament,” he added.
His comments follow a press conference by the parliamentary minority, which strongly condemned the government’s handling of African deportees to Ghana from the United States.
At the news conference, former Minister for Lands and Natural Resources and Member of Parliament for Damongo, Samuel Abu Jinapor, urged the government to suspend what he describes as an “unconstitutional” agreement to receive deported West African nationals from the United States.
He insisted that the agreement should be put on hold pending full parliamentary scrutiny and ratification.
Currently, Ghana has received 40 West African deportees from the United States following a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the US, which does not require ratification.
However, some of them have been sent back to their home countries after they sued the government of Ghana for wrongful intention upon their arrival in the country.
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