Mr Speaker, what did we do when we came into Government? True to our words, that this Agreement must be brought to Parliament, we satisfied the Supreme Court condition and brought it to Parliament for it to be ratified.
Mr Speaker, unknown to the people of Ghana, and even to the Supreme Court, the previous NDC Government then had given them refugee status. Until today, nobody in Ghana, including yourself, knew that the previous NDC Government had given them refugee status, and had shifted the goal posts completely.
Mr Speaker, the Agreement that talked about moving them -- Even if, today, the Agreement is that they should be moved, the fact that they have been moved from ordinary suspects to refugees changes the question. We cannot just throw them out because, today, they are refugees.
Mr Speaker, today, they are not just ordinary Yemenis, they are not ordinary citizens, nor people who have been suspected of terrorist activities and brought into the country. Today, by the action of the previous NDC Government, they are refugees. So, the question has shifted to treating them as refugees. That was why the Hon Minister for Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration said that the appropriate authorities would look into it.
Mr Speaker, I would want it to be known that this Government is very cautious about the safety of the people of Ghana. We are very cautious, and we would make sure that the people of Ghana are completely safe. That is the reason we are hesitant to take any decision that would have security implications on the people of Ghana.
Mr Speaker, I can assure you that the people of Ghana are very safe -- extremely very safe, that when it comes to the issues of people who are involved in terrorism, this Government is tracking and has every information about everybody. [Interruption.] -- And who caused it?
Mr Speaker, I would want to say once again, that the question that necessitated this particular Statement was as result of people asking when the Gitmo-2 would be sent out of this country. It includes people from the other side of the aisle, who have taken the position that the Government should send them away -- but they failed to tell the people of Ghana -- today, the people are not just being guarded, but they are refugees.
Mr Speaker, I believe they owe the people of Ghana an apology. [Interruption.] -- It is true. They really owe the people of Ghana an apology. They have tied the hands of Ghanaians at the back, and then they come out to shout as if they know nothing about it. Meanwhile, they took the decision to make them refugees -- they took the decision to make it very difficult for anybody to send them out.
They took that decision. They knew that they had made the people refugees. They have committed the people of Ghana to hold them as refugees, knowing that it is extremely difficult to repatriate the people to Yemen, where they, on a daily basis, fight one another with no functioning government. Then they have come out to say we should send them away. Where should they be sent to?
Mr Speaker, for security reasons, like I said, I would not talk much; but we would want the people of Ghana to know that all the problems associated with the question of the Gitmo- 2 emanated from them, and it would end with them.