James Agalga, a member of parliament representing Builsa North, has reminded Ghana’s leadership that deploying troops to another country is tantamount to declaring war on that country.
Mr. Agalga, a ranking member of Parliament’s Defense and Interior Committee, asked the Minister of Defence to bring any plan by the government to contribute troops to Parliament for a comprehensive debate and approval or rejection.
On Thursday, Ecowas will hold a conference in Nigeria’s capital, Abuja, to examine the issue in Niger, following a military coup. This came after it offered the coup leaders seven days to restore democracy and return the elected President or face military intervention.
The deadline, however, passed on Sunday with no change in the situation. A team from Mali’s and Burkina Faso’s military governments is on its way to Niger to express sympathy with the junta.
While commenting on the situation in Niger, Mr James Agalga stated that the issue has definitely caught the committee’s attention, but it should be noted that the people have not yet reached the point where Ghana as a country has committed to deploying ECOWAS troops in Niger, despite the fact that the authorities of ECOWAS heads of state and government have issued an ultimatum.
“Now, the ultimatum has expired and so we are waiting for the next step to be taken then we can insist that certain things are done in accordance with our practices and procedures. If Ghana has to deploy troops to Niger as part of its contribution to the ECOWAS force, we would expect that parliamentary approval will be sought.”
James Agalga
Seek Parliamentary Approval Before Deploying Troops To Niger
He also added that if the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) decides to send soldiers to Niger to restore democracy following the coup, Ghana must obtain legislative approval before committing troops to support ECOWAS.
The former Deputy Minister of the Interior also stated that in the past, Ghana committed to contributing troops to the ECOWAS mission in The Gambia, which removed Yahya Jammeh after he refused to step down after losing an election to Adama Barrow.
Furthermore, he claimed that Ghana, along with Nigeria and Senegal, contributed to the troops, but the deployment occurred before the Defence Minister appeared before Parliament and made a statement indicating that Ghaha had contributed a certain number of troops to the ECOWAS mission in The Gambia.
“We actually had serious problems with that approach. We insisted that if we deploy troops, whether they are part of ECOWAS or not, it amounts to a declaration of war. So, we would expect that the matter is tabled before Parliament, it is thoroughly debated and if Parliament clears our government to deploy troops, we can then go ahead and deploy. Anything short of that will be illegal.”
James Agalga
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