As the December 7 Presidential and Parliamentary elections approaches, the former Presidential Press Secretary and a leading member of the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP), Mr Kwabena Agyepong, has asked Ghanaians not to down play the historical antecedent of the illegal drug trade of certain members of the Provisional National Defence Council (PNDC) and National Democratic Congress (NDC) for the past 19 years.

Although illegal drug trade can never justified, according to him, the propagandist political tactics by the main opposition NDC to create the impression that the trade of illegal drugs, especially cocaine, started in the NPP administration has no basis.

Delving into the historical records of the former administration, he recounted that the November 1999 a former deputy Minister of Youth and Sports, Professor Ade, addressing a conference on streetism indicated that Ghana had become a transit point for the international illegal trade, saying that “a Minister of the then government said so…but at that time we as opposition-NPP did not say that because of what the Minister had said the NDC government was dealing in drugs.”

Mr Agyepong further recounted that former Speaker of Parliament and Vice-Chairman of the PNDC, the late Mr Justice D. F. Annan’s son was busted and jailed for illegal drug trafficking stressing; “But you did not hear the NPP then saying that as a result of that the NDC government is a drug peddlers party as they always wish to express through their series of press conferences and propagandist machinery.”

In reaction to series of allegation linked to the members of NPP Government By The NDC, Mr Agyepong told GO that a close associate of the former first family-the Rawlingses, who was also Deputy High commissioner, was busted with illegal drugs.

Former President Rawlings, according to him, subsequently invoked diplomatic immunity to have his close associate’s trial brought to Ghana in order not to expose the other side of the former first family, “But today when a trial has taken place elsewhere and Ghanaians are languishing in jail and for social reasons we said they can come and serve the sentence here, just the sentence, NDC uses that to accuse us that we are condoning drug trade in Ghana, when in their time they did not even allow the trial to take place outside the country.”

Again, Mr Agyepong reechoed that the former President of Surinam, who was a close ally of Mr Rawlings and regular visitor to their country, is currently under investigation by the Dutch authorities for drug related issues, maintaining that “He was a close associate of Mr Rawlings, but that did not give us the right to accuse Mr Rawlings and his family of drug dealings.”

The Presidential Press Secretary reverberated that the former first lady Nana Konadu Agyemang Rawlings was subjected to thorough body search in the United States (US) on suspicion as a drug dealer. “But even at that point we did not make an election issue in 1999 to say that change the government because they are dealing in drugs.”

All these historical records, he said, are available but the members of the NDC, with all their allegations, have never been able to provide an iota of evidence such that the leadership of the NPP government is engaging in illegal drug dealing.

He told GO that the NPP government will continue to strengthen security agencies in the country to effectively combat the drug menace, adding, the government is currently collaborating with other international organizations in order to fight the menace.