I will shut down Parliament if Military pact is ratified – Ayariga

The founder and leader of the All Peoples’ Congress (APC) Hassan Ayariga has said he would shut down Parliament should it approve the controversial military pact between Ghana and United States.

Addressing a news conference in Accra, Thursday, March 22, 2018 Mr. Ayariga described the agreement as senseless and bogus.

“So I am calling on the Parliament…and our parliamentarians that if they make a mistake and adopt this [the military pact] we will cancel Parliament House. We will go back to another election because they are not qualified to represent us,” he warned stressing: “And I am very serious about this.”

His warning comes after the government through the Defence Minister Dominic Nitiwul stated that it cannot back out of the controversial military agreement despite massive public outcry and protests from the minority and Ghanaians.

“We have already signed a 1998 agreement, we have signed the 2015 agreement and we have already caught ourselves in this net and we cannot back out because this is just a combination of the two agreements,” the Defence Minister told a press conference Wednesday—a position Mr. Ayariga lampooned as reckless.

“…And [Ghanaians] you have to stand side by side with me for us to do the right thing once and for all. We cannot allow our greedy politicians to take us for granted anymore. Not on this matter. It can be any other thing but not on this matter,” he said.

Meanwhile, the Minority in Parliament said it will proceed to the Supreme Court if the majority uses its numbers in Parliament to pass the controversial military pact.

The Government of Ghana, according to a leaked document, has approved the agreement with the US to set up a military base in Ghana and also allow unrestricted access to a host of facilities and wide-ranging tax exemptions to the United States Military—a claim the government of Ghana and the US denied.

“We have sent notice that if the NPP uses their numbers to see this get a pass, we will head to the Supreme Court. We are clear in our mind that what is going on now is not in our interest as a nation.

“It is illegal. The Minority is going to oppose this. A lot of laws are being breached by this agreement,” warned the Minority spokesperson on Foreign Affair Samuel Okudze Ablakwa on Morning Starr Thursday.