By Cletus D Kuunifaa

That a bishop will drag my catholic church into this GITMO duo affair by requesting Ghanaians to hit the streets is rather very troubling to say the least. His Holiness Pope Francis will surely show compassion from our catholic stand point and upbringing. I know that the Christian doctrine of compassion transcends all boundaries. If Jesus Christ teaches us to show compassion to others irrespective of creed, color, it is because the resultant gain to be derived, I believe, is for a compassionate world to make a peaceful world.

Turning a benign case into a volatile situation by our utterances and inflammations are not good Christian values especially in respect to this Gitmo combo. We should not act as if we are strangers to most of what would generally be considered the Christian virtues; compassion, humility, mercy and grace. From what is going on regarding the GITMO duo, our behavior seems to fit the definition of pharisaism: in this context, clinging overzealously on to beliefs in a way that violates the very spirit of fairness, mercy and compassion.
Are we suggesting by our hue and cry about the Gitmo duo that there is not a hint of compassion gentleness and mercy in Ghana? Instead, we are seeking to eliminate, conspire theories to feed into prejudices and the tone now is not one of emotion but fear, vows to crush, shred, destroy and alienate. In fact, there is such a laid down atmosphere of apocalyptic fear, heightened uncertainty which are all, by the way, should be non-existant yet being hopelessly anticipated. Conjectures galore that Ghana is heading toward oblivion because of the Gitmo duo?! Come on…
Look! If we want to argue about the way this whole deal went down, government must should be blamed for not letting us in on the decision. Simply put, Government owe us a duty to be transparent and the lack of consultation prior to their acceptance surely is an overlook in governance. A responsible government needs to heed to the voices of the people after all isn’t democracy not defined as government of the people, by the people, and for the people? But, that did not happen.
All the same, let cool heads prevail: is it to be suggested that these guys are living in their private quarters without surveillance? What will be the justification for any whichever attack emanating from them in Ghana? Are they rather senseless to the extent that Ghana is offering a saving hand for them to deal a blow on us?
Brethren, to contextualize this GITMO duo issue in the light of international or global politics is huge. Ghana as a member of the international community has a responsibility to perform toward member countries. What we did with Ebola together with this will bode well for us. It will help to build clout within international politics. This singular show of compassion will potentially open doors for us with (US backing) in many areas of global politics and for international positions à savoir the UN, IMF, WB etc. Don’t ask me why because you will be playing out ignorance about global politics and its subsequent benefits for our country if you happen to ask me.

Note that US aid to compensate for impacts, for example, the opportunity cost of tourism must be disclosed to Ghanaians if that ever happens for us to know our much worth that will be. And of course, US support for military intelligence and security in Ghana are on course and will continue unabated. Ghana stands to benefit from more intelligence sharing with the US.

By the way, we must note that Boko Haram is already nearby and Ghana had strengthened its security, anyways, before the GITMO duo. Above all, this act from Ghana makes us look good, period! Ghana has scored internationally on the global stage by this act of compassion and its up now to the current and subsequent governments to exploit the goodwill, thereof.

Cletus D Kuunifaa
TMC Group
Can be contacted at dipnibe@yahoo.com or follow him on twitter @ckuunifaa