Although there are some defects in the military agreement which Ghana has signed with the United States of America (USA), the sovereignty of the West African country has not been sold, Emmanuel Bombande, a former Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration in the Mahama administration, has said.

Mr Bombande had earlier held the view that the deal was bad for Ghana.

He told Joy News’ Bernice Abu-Baidoo on the News Desk show Friday that President Akufo-Addo "is not signing away Ghana’s sovereign rights but there are signs of weaknesses in the 2018 agreement.”

“But I want to draw his [President Akufo-Addo's] attention that the erosion of these rights is visible in the…agreement,” he stated.

“You want to put a cap on it [weaknesses of the agreement] so a future president [of US] does not take advantage of the weaknesses and goes beyond trampling to a complete takeover of our sovereignty."

He further indicated that the intransigent stance against the deal should not be seen as an anti-US movement.

“Our friendship [with the US] is not at stake,” he stressed.

His comments come after President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo explained the rationale behind the agreement.



The president said, among other things, that he would never do anything to compromise or sell the sovereignty of Ghana.

Mr Akufo-Addo said this in reaction to critics of the Ghana-USA defence military agreement.

As part of the agreement, Ghana will give US military unrestricted access to some military installations in the country and in return, the United States of America will support Ghana’s military with $20million.

Critics of the agreement, especially the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC), argue that government has sold the sovereignty of the nation for $20million to allow the Americans set up a military base in the country.

Reacting to the accusation in an address to the nation on Thursday, 5 April 2018, Nana Akufo-Addo emphasised that the US military was not setting up a base in Ghana, adding that, he would never do anything to compromise the sovereignty of the country.

He said: “Fellow Ghanaians let me conclude by saying how outraged I am by the defamatory comments of my political opponents some of whose patriotism can be so easily questioned that the sovereignty of this country has been sold by my government and myself. I’ll never be the president that will compromise or sell the sovereignty of our country. I respect deeply the memory of the great patriots who sacrificed and toiled and brought about our independence and freedom.”