Introduction
I'm
Muslim, an unapologetic one at that. Born Muslim, practicing Muslim and one who
strives to live by the dictates of the Qur'an and of the Sunnah [Prophet
Muhammad's traditions]
I
am certain the above alone would be enough for a select group of 'wolves' to
come marauding with the aim of insulting Islam and Muslims out of sheer
ignorance and misinformation fortunately that doesn't subtract from but adds to
strengthening the religion, and I'd attempt tell you how and why.
Ex-convicts,
they are not!
It
started with news that Government of Ghana [GoG] had accepted to help resettle
two ex-detainees who had served 'totally unfair' jail terms under US detention curiously
nowhere in the US but on the South American island of Cuba.
The
now infamous Camp Delta Prisons, Guantanamo Bay had been their home for the
past 14 odd years, no criminal charges were established against them and their
release came with a resettlement plan which GoG accepted to be party to.
Fourteen
years in detention, unconditionally released and who says that qualifies anyone
to be labeled an ex-convict? Unless of course the meaning of the word has
changed in the last few days and some of us aren't updated; these two guys are
'innocent' men held by an unconscionable system.
The
overblown potency of two Yemenis
Shockingly
defeating and ghastly unfortunate, a country of 25 million or so presumably
peace loving people are cringing or so we are made to believe by a section of
the public that two Yemenis in 24 months will 'mess' us all up.
Our
crime being for accepting them into our 'peaceful' and very serene space, that utterly
alarmist thinking in my view is clearly more dangerous, far more dangerous than
the presence of the two men who are already in town.
And
laughable enough, on this particular issue we find that ordinary people all of
a sudden have become security experts plotting and planning permutations,
implication and counter implication of two bearded men.
The
extremely extremist extreme end
This
is not the first time in Ghana's history that foreigners are joining us for one
reason or the other. Each time impact assessments are made and we 'box on' with
our lives as though we were all Ghanaians, but what is the difference this time
round?
That
is exactly where the catch is; when did Ghana all of a sudden learn to reject
American offers? [For the records though, we have rejected same-sex marriages,
have we? Or have they at all offered it to us?] And so we hear some bandy
around the view that if there weren't 'dangerous' elements, why did America not
resettle them in the states?
Well,
that is for the Americans to answer; but have we asked how many 'unfair'
detainees the United States have released and where they have been sent to for
resettlement? You'd ask how and why that matters.
Remember
though that America would perhaps forever be a target for militancy as would
most European countries for the simple reason that they continue to poke their
noses into matters of vested interests to them.
Ghana
Government's procedural own-goal
It
seems in these times that 'Government' has suddenly metamorphosed into the
select few who are elected and or nominated to represent us in some capacity as
a nation, well; I though all of us at different levels represented government.
Having
said that, GoG's decision to accept the former detainees without recourse to
the legislature's relevant select committee has now become an unnecessary sour
point which could have been handled much better.
The
executive could have informed the committee just for the sake of propriety [call
it political correctness] and still gone ahead to accept these two individuals
even contrary to any counter-advice.
Dumsor
like Gitmo saga: Keep the complaints till …
It's
an election year, and we are made to believe that our biggest chance of
derailing the peace process is of having accepted two Yemenis into Ghana, whatever
happened to the political hotheads who constantly threaten our collective peace
and security by the wanton display of political bravado on the media.
Like
dumsor came and spent enough time to have graduated with a bachelor's degree, the
Guantanamo Yemenis are in town and it's business as usual, those who will can
cry for the next two years because NOTHING [caps mine] is going to change.
The
duo have not been brought in to disrupt our peace, we should man up and be
responsible for our peace, we have cultivated it for long and watered it enough
to know that only ourselves can poison that peace.
And
please, let no 'sane' person pull a religious card with this; that can only
make the whole discourse messier and nastier. Till then, thanks for reading my
thoughts and God bless our homeland Ghana.
Abdur
Rahman Alfa Shaban
