It is for good reason that public officials such as ministers swear the oath of secrecy…documents bordering on national security are marked ‘Restricted’ just so classified information are not accessed by persons not qualified to do so.
Persons handling highly classified information sometimes captured documentarily should be persons not known to be garrulous or indiscreet.
Certain categories of public officials because of their schedules must undergo thorough screening to determine their suitability or otherwise for the state assignments about to be bestowed upon them.
Even the media for the sake of national security steer away from certain subjects. During WWII the British media did not publish stories which tended to give away valuable intelligence to enemy forces.
On Wednesday the Minority in Parliament raised an important issue bordering on national security.
Our Foreign Affairs Minister Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa according to the Minority while contributing to a discussion at the prestigious international relations hub, Chatham House mentioned a collaboration between the US and government on one hand and Nigeria on the other leading to the bombing of a suspected militant base in Sokoto State in the North of Nigeria.
Of course the minister was so graphic with his contribution that we are constrained to ask whether he was driven by an overwhelming excitement.
He committed a security breach which he as a Chief Diplomat of the country should not have done.
Our disappointment is enormous and we shudder to think about the repercussions of the security faux pas on our country.
Campaign trail posturing should not be carried into public service especially at the international level.
The Americans should be embarrassed as would our colonial stable mates, Nigeria.
Both the US and Nigeria never spilled this classified information for obvious security reasons.
That this information is being released now not formally but out of indiscretion many months after the bombing on Nigerian soil by the US shows that the story was guarded until the minister dropped the gourd in public.
Given earlier developments regarding actions with international trappings and undertaken during the tenure of President John Mahama’s first term in office and same not coming before Parliament for approval we are constrained to conclude that they are deliberate and intended to conceal something.
We recall the GITMO 2 case during President John Mahama’s first term when two Yemenis were deported to Ghana without parliamentary approval.
We recall also the deal with the US for Ghana to receive West African deportees…this too was done on the blind side of Parliament.
The details of the Nigeria attack using a Ghanaian launch pad in the Northern Region must be provided to Ghanaians.
A Supreme Court ruling that treaties and deals of international flavours must be approved by Parliament has under the prevailing circumstances been breached by the executive.
The monetary handshake accompanying the acquiescence of Ghana for the US Nigeria attack is important information must be divulged, now that the Foreign Affairs Minister has rudely declassified the deal.
The questions posed by the Minority in Parliament demand immediate answers as a delay in responding would only underscore the impropriety feared to have underpinned the deal.
