[2017]DLSC2600 • June 22, 2017 • Supreme Court •
MRS. MARGARET BANFUL AND HENRY NANA BOAKYE vs. THE ATTORNEY-GENERAL AND THE MINISTRY OF INTERIOR
The Plaintiffs, citizens of Ghana, challenged the President's agreement with the USA to transfer two former Guantanamo Bay detainees, Mahmud Umar Muhammad Bin Atef and Khalid Muhammad Salih AlDhuby, to Ghana without parliamentary ratification as required by Article 75 of the 1992 Constitution. They alleged the detainees were suspected terrorists and that their reception violated the Anti-Terrorism Act 2008 (Act 762) and Immigration Act 2000 (Act 573). The Plaintiffs sought declarations of unconstitutionality and orders for removal of the detainees.
read moreAKUFFO (MS), CJ:- Background By a writ filed on 21st of January, 2016, the Plaintiffs, in their capacities as citizens of Ghana, invoked the original jurisdiction of the Supreme Court pursuant to Articles 2(1)(b) and 130(1) of the 1992 Constitution and Rule 45 of the Supreme Court Rules, 1996 (CI 16), seeking against the Defendants the following reliefs: i. "A declaration that on a true and proper interpretation of Article 75 of the 1992 Constitution of Ghana, the President of the Republic of Ghana, by agreeing to the transfer of Mahmud Umar Muhammad Bin Atef and Khalid Muhammad Salih Al-Dhuby (both profiled terrorist and former detainees of Guantanamo Bay) to the Republic of Ghana, required the ratification by an Act of Parliament or a resolution of Parliament supported by the votes of more than one-half of all the members of Parliament. ii. A declaration that on a true and proper interpretation of Article 75 of the 1992 Constitution of Ghana, the President of the Republic of Gh...