Well, it’s Friday, so why don’t we quickly recap the week? It’s been one of those, you know, with several rather controversial stories. First, we woke up to the news on Monday morning that 7 armed men had broken into the Kwabenya Police Station and freed 6 suspects from custody. In the process, one Officer was killed. It brought back all the familiar conversations about the capacity and resources of our nation’s police force. There were calls for all policemen to be armed. Don’t know how I feel about that, but I do care about how easy it was for 7 guys with guns to storm a police station and free suspected criminals.

I do care about the fact that those suspected criminals and their armed liberators have been out on the streets for an entire week (until some of them were arrested yesterday) with no public education and/or information from the police on whether we were safe, whether these individuals posed a threat to us, how we were supposed to behave if we encountered them… nothing beyond a phone number to call if we had information. So let’s face it, our police have serious problems, and not all these problems can be solved by giving them guns.

This is also the week in which we drew some crucial attention to the on-going ridiculous stand-off between the Ministry of Health and the University of Ghana regarding the ownership and management of the newly built University of Ghana Medical Centre. I’ll be honest with you: this thing doesn’t compute for me. The Government of Ghana signed an agreement with University of Ghana in 2015. The agreement stated clearly that Government of Ghana would take a loan to pay for the construction of the UGMC, and fund the running of the hospital for the first 5 years. They also agreed that the UGMC would be owned by the University of Ghana, and managed by a Special Purpose Vehicle set up by the University. This was agreed, written in black and white, and signed by both parties. The end. Right? Wrong.

In comes the NPP government with all kinds of weird and wonderful claims. First, they say Government is paying the loan, so government should own the hospital. They say it is a teaching hospital, so it cannot be owned by the University. Nobody knows which law book they were reading these rules from, when there is a clear agreement written in black and white and signed by both parties. Then they accuse three individuals of registering the hospital as their private business. This accusation – made by the Health Minister and his Deputy – is the single most bizarre twist in this already loopy yarn of absurdity. On Wednesday however, this accusation was revealed on this show for the indefensible hogwash that it truly is. We await the next untenable pretext from the government to take over this facility.

Meanwhile, the hospital, which has already been commissioned by the former President, remains closed. The new government says it is not completed and has not even been handed over by the contractor. So what business did the former President have commissioning the thing just over a year ago? How do you even commission something that has not been handed over to you? Was it done just for votes? Do our leaders ever represent us, or is everything done for their personal benefit? We play too much in this country.

Also this week, the Ghana Education Service has reportedly sacked Robert Sepey, the headmaster of a basic school, for appearing in a sex tape. The woman he was allegedly romping with on a kitchen stool in the video, was not one of his students. She was not underage. The sex was consensual. But he still got sacked. Meanwhile, in March last year, WiayugahMumuni, the Headmaster of Pieng Basic School in the Sissala East District, reportedly called a 10-year-old pupil into his office defiled her on his desk and gave her GH20 not to tell anyone. This headmaster is currently being prosecuted for this very crime, but he still remains a headmaster of a primary school. He still remains a fully engaged employee of the GES.

So I guess the message is clear: the GES is ok with child rape on a desk, but frowns on consensual sex on a stool. Ok. Got it.

Finally, the GITMO 2 have been back in the headlines again. As it turns out, the previous government, in addition to agreeing to keep them here for at least two years, also granted them refugee status without telling anyone. The new NPP government point to this as the reason why the two cannot now be removed from the country.

Do you remember the plenty noise the NPP made in opposition, screaming at the top of their voices that these Guantanamo Bay detainees must not be allowed to stay here; that the Mahama Administration had put Ghanaians in danger by bringing them here; that the agreement should never have been made with the Americans without Parliamentary approval? Well, what have they done about it since they came into office over a year ago? First of all, their majority in parliament ratified the agreement – which they claimed we should never have made in the first place. Now, the Foreign Minister tells us she has suddenly uncovered a letter that says the two were given refugee status, and that somehow, this means the government cannot remove them from the country even if they wished to.

Also, we are learning for the first time, that the agreement with the American Government actually states that the American Government’s obligations to the two comes to an end after 2 years, but the Ghana Government’s obligation somehow extends beyond the two years. This is being raised as yet another reason why the NDC’s agreement with the Americans was a bad one. So my question is, if the agreement was that bad, why did the NPP Members of Parliament vote to ratify it under Akufo-Addo’s administration?

As for the NDC’s reaction to all this, well, it’s been quite typical. First of all, there has been no discernible explanation as to why they granted two ex-detainees refugee status. Samuel Okudzeto-Ablakwa, who serves on the parliamentary Foreign Affairs Committee, suggested yesterday, that, due to the conditions of the written, signed agreement between the two countries, there was a need to grant the ex-detainees ‘some legal status” after they arrived in Ghana without passports.

I reminded him that the former President told the whole nation that there was no written agreement between Ghana and the USA, and that he had brought them in on “compassionate grounds”. Now, the NDC speak of a “written, signed agreement” between the two countries, and point to that as the reason why they were obliged to grant them legal immigration status as refugees. Now, they no longer refer to a compassionate decision, but a binding agreement. Yoo, we hear. Still, why the secrecy? Why was nobody told at any point that this refugee status had been granted? Why was it not in the handover notes?

Or was it?

I have long wondered what both governments are not telling us about these GITMO 2, and the reason why Mahama agreed to take them in and Akufo-Addo agreed to keep them here. No matter how you toss it, the facts as we know them do not indicate a single benefit to Ghana from this arrangement. Why agree to take on 2 people who have been unlawfully detained by another country – especially when that country considers these 2 men too dangerous to be allowed into their own country? Why did we take them? And why are we keeping them after the 2 years are up?

What do the Americans have on both the Mahama and Akufo-Addo administrations? What consequence could there possibly be, that makes both governments reluctant to expel them? When we get the answer to that question, we will crack this case.Until then, let’s just face the reality that both governments are being dishonest with the Ghanaian People when it comes to the GITMO 2.

So that’s how the week has unfolded so far. But it’s not over yet. Join us today as we dig even deeper into the GITMO 2 saga, and later, seek to settle the debate about office romances: good or bad?

My name is Kojo Yankson, and it’s been a week of Raided Stations, Ridiculous Stand-Offs, Romping Stools and Refugee Status

GOOD MORNING, GHANAFO!