US Deportees: Minority demands suspension of deal pending parliamentary ratification

The Minority caucus in Parliament is urging government to suspend its agreement with the United States of America (USA) to accept deportees from West Africa, insisting that the deal is unconstitutional.

According to the caucus, the agreement violates Article 75 of the 1992 Constitution, which requires that every treaty, agreement, or convention executed by or under the authority of the President be laid before Parliament for ratification.

Addressing a press conference on Wednesday, 24 September, Samuel Abu Jinapor, Ranking Member on the Foreign Affairs Committee, expressed disappointment, revealing that Minority MPs only became aware of the deal through media reports.

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The caucus questioned Foreign Affairs Minister Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa’s assertion that the deal was a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) which would require parliamentary approval only if it were later “elevated” to a formal agreement.

In response, Mr Jinapor stated:

We wish to remind the Hon. Minister that the Constitution makes no distinction between formal agreements and Memoranda of Understanding. As held by the Supreme Court in the Banful case, the provision even covers agreements reached by Note Verbales. Attempts by the Minister to downplay this agreement in the face of a clear constitutional provision are deeply disturbing.

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He further stressed that operationalising the agreement without parliamentary ratification amounts to a direct violation of Article 75 and undermines the authority of the Supreme Court.

The Minority also raised broader concerns about sovereignty, security, and policy implications. While regional integration remains a core principle of Ghana’s foreign policy, they argued that it cannot justify the forced reception of deportees from non-ECOWAS states. The caucus emphasised that the ECOWAS Protocol on Free Movement only applies to voluntary travel, not forced deportations.

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They therefore called on government to immediately suspend implementation of the deal until Parliament has exercised its constitutional mandate to ratify it. They further demanded full disclosure of the safeguards and measures, if any, that have been put in place to protect Ghana’s national security interests in relation to the deportees.