Mahama orders port security agencies to end rivalry and submit a drug-control roadmap

Pinned summary · as of 07:54

President John Mahama has told the security agencies working at Ghana's ports to stop competing with one another, pool what they know and present a plan for tighter controls against drug trafficking. Felix Kwakye Ofosu, the government's spokesperson, disclosed the instruction and said it grew out of a meeting the President called around two weeks ago. Separately, the Minority in Parliament has filed a motion to recall the House over fears that the country is becoming a route for narcotics.

What we know

• Mr Ofosu said the President wants the agencies at the ports to drop their rivalry, share intelligence and work together, and to come back with a roadmap showing how they will do so.
• According to Mr Ofosu, the instruction followed an urgent meeting the President convened about a fortnight ago, after concern that drug consignments had slipped past Ghanaian checks and were intercepted in other countries.
• The spokesperson described the main weakness found at that meeting as friction between port agencies, each pressing for dominance and at times holding back information from the others.
• Mr Ofosu said Mr Mahama will not accept Ghana's borders being used as a transit point for drug trafficking, and that the time given to the agencies to deliver the roadmap ends within days.
• The spokesperson rejected labels such as "cocaine coast" or drug transit hub. In his view, police and NACOC (Narcotics Control Commission) arrests do not automatically prove a trafficking hub and instead show the anti-drug institutions at work, though he conceded that shipments slipping through Ghanaian checks and caught overseas remain worrying.
• The Minority in Parliament has filed a motion asking for Parliament to be recalled to look at drug trafficking and the claim that Ghana is turning into a transit hub for narcotics.

What's disputed / unconfirmed

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  MyJoyOnline, Adom Online and Nkonkonsa reported that Mr Ofosu made his remarks on Joy News' PM Express on Wednesday and framed the goal as ports secure enough to prevent drug trafficking altogether. The Herald Ghana did not carry this detail.
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  Adom Online and Nkonkonsa quoted Mr Ofosu as saying that if a dozen cases include two involving shipment of drugs out of Ghana, the country should not be called a volcano on that basis. This has not appeared in other reports.
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  MyJoyOnline, Adom Online and Nkonkonsa reported that the Minority cited a run of seizures and trafficking cases to back its call for Parliament to look into the matter; The Herald Ghana did not mention this.

Why it matters for Ghana

Ports are where much of the trade that Ghanaian businesses and households rely on enters and leaves the country, so how well the security agencies cooperate there affects both legitimate cargo and the fight against drugs. The row over whether Ghana is a trafficking hub touches the country's reputation abroad, since the spokesperson said consignments intercepted overseas prompted the President's action. The roadmap due within days, and the Minority's call for Parliament to be recalled, will show how far the government and lawmakers intend to take the issue.