Covid-19 Forces Supreme Court To Adjourn US Military Base Case

The Supreme Court has adjourned its ruling on the suit challenging the government’s decision to sign the controversial Ghana-US military cooperation agreement that essentially allowed the planting of a military base in Ghana.

The ruling which was expected to be given today Wednesday, April 2, 2020, was adjourned by the court presided over by Chief Justice, Anin Yeboah.

The date for the final judgment has been scheduled for May 5, 2020.

Justifying the adjournment, the Chief Justice claimed he was forced to reschedule the judgment day because the panel judges who were supposed to hear the matter to could not have a conference due to the Covid-19 partial lockdown.

The suit was filed in 2018 by former Ashanti Regional Youth Organizer of the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC), Yaw Brogya Genfi  and one other They wanted the apex court to set aside the agreement rectified by Parliament between Ghana and the United States over a military cooperation deal that allowed Ghana to be a transit point of US military hardware.

According to the suit, two government appointees including the Minister of Defence, Dominic Nitiwul breached several laws in their bid to have the controversial Ghana-US military agreement ratified.

According to the suit, the approval was done by only Majority Members of Parliament (MPs) because the Minority members staged a walkout during the debate in the legislative chamber.

With the agreement, the US troops would among other things, be exempted from paying taxes on equipment that are brought to Ghana as well as use Ghana’s radio spectrum for free.

The troops and their equipment would also have unhindered access to the US forces and their equipment.

The Government had argued that it facilitated the agreement because it was only respecting the existing Status of Forces Agreement with the US signed since 1998 and reviewed in 2015, under the previous NDC administration.