Ghana’s Former Defence Minister Admits Signing U.S. Military Defense Cooperation Agreement Deal

Ghana’s former Minister of Defence, Dominic Nitiwul, now a Member of Parliament under the New Patriotic Party (NPP), admitted on March 11, 2026, that he signed the now-controversial 2018 Defence Cooperation Agreement.

The agreement allows the United States to stage, train, and deploy its troops in Ghana, as well as maintain a West Africa Logistics Network, effectively a covert U.S. military base, on Ghanaian soil.

Although many, including most Ghanaians, do not view the security-defense arrangement between Accra and Washington as a military base, the former minister-turned-MP openly acknowledged its existence.

Nitiwul’s admission came after Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) disclosed at Chatham House in London on March 9, 2026, that the Nigerian and U.S. governments had reached out to President John Mahama-led administration to collaborate on the December 25, 2025, airstrikes in Nigeria by U.S. forces.

While the foreign minister’s disclosure confirmed that Ghana had been invited to collaborate with the United States and Nigeria, he did not say whether Ghana accepted the invitation.

Nitiwul, alongside Samuel Abu Jinapor, has since called for parliamentary ratification of the 2018 security agreement, the same agreement he confirmed signing in 2018 as defence minister under former President Nana Akufo-Addo.

🗣Dominic Nitiwul, Ghana’s foreign minister under President Nana Akufo-Addo’s administration, has publicly admitted to signing the 2018 Defense Cooperation Agreement with the United States.

🗣The “Defense Cooperation Agreement,” which he confirmed was signed on May 9, 2018, at Terminal 1 of the Kotoka International Airport (currently renamed Accra International Airport), for the West African Logistics Network (WALN, a covert name for a U.S. military base), entered into force on May 31, 2018. In effect, the “defense agreement” allows U.S. military forces to use parts of Ghana for their military operations.

🗣Currently a member of Parliament, under the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Mr. Nitiwul alongside party associate, Samuel Abu Jinapor, criticized the same “Defense Cooperation Agreement” on March 11, 2026, which he confirmed he signed on May 2018.

🗣The criticism and call for ratification of the U.S.-Ghana “Defense Cooperation Agreement” by Mr. Nitiwul and Mr. Jinapor came after Ghana’s current foreign minister, Hon. Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) party, told an audience in London that the U.S. and Nigerian governments had contacted President John Mahama-led administration about collaborating on the December 25, 2025, airstrikes in Nigeria.

🗣While, Mr. Ablakwa admitted that there was an invitation for Accra to collaborate with Abuja and Washington on the December 25 airstrikes in Nigeria, and reference the May 2018 “Defense Cooperation Agreement” between the U.S. and Ghana, Mr. Ablakwa did not confirm whether Ghana accepted such invitation of collaborating with the airstrikes in Nigeria, but maintained that all players “must agree on the scope of intervention because we do not want this to lead to another Venezuela situation or some other geopolitical matter.”