The President of Ghana John Atta Mills cannot pretend that the cocaine trade is still alive and in fact flourishing under his rule. In fact 500 metres from the seat of government, there is a house, not far from the Accra Sports Stadium, where cocaine worth a street value of 400,000 dollars was found underneath a bathroom slab in December last year yet the NACOB authorities swept it under the carpet for reasons best known to themselves. Why is Brigadier Nunoo Mensah authorising the National Security personnel, as well as police to guard the houses of known cocaine barons living at East Legon, Okponglo, Tantra Hill, Osu Ringway Estates, Labone and Gbawe?

In August 2010, British Customs officers and Police intercepted a parcel of yams at the Kent International Airport in London, United Kingdom. Upon close examination, the tubers of yam was found to be containing cocaine at a street value of 200,000 pounds, the bag incidentally had a diplomatic tache to it with Ghana’s coat of arms. Despite explanations sought from the Ghanaian government and the security agencies from the British Authorities, nobody was forthcoming. The individual who was arrested, is alleged to be a close confidante of one Mr Nii Lantei Vanderpuiye, special Assistant to the President of Ghana, President Mills.

This is not the first time that cases of this nature have gone unnoticed by the security agencies. There are rumours that some senior members of the ruling National Democratic congress have taken over where the New Patriotic Party, heavily criticised for not doing much to stop the drug trade left off . In order not to get detected, they have moved operations to Guinea Bissau, a country declared a narcotic state by the United Nations. Intelligence sources have confirmed that these members have set up a processing factory outside the capital, Bissau and are trafficking the product to Europe with the support of South American drug barons based there. It is to their luck and a blessing that one of their contacts is a minister at the Ghanaian health ministry and a person with known connections to South American drug cartels. Yet no action has been taken against this person!

The wiki leaks report showed that the President of Ghana, Professor John Evans Atta Mills had second thoughts and misgivings about the modus operandi of some of his aides. Perhaps he had a point to be concerned.One of them was recently involved in the trafficking of cocaine which resulted in his courier being arrested in Manila, the capital of The Philippines. His name has been mentioned and passed on to the Ghanaian security agencies .Such is the scandalous nature of this case the President has been pressured to take action.

The scourge of drug trafficking and the direct participation and involvement of certain government officials will not go away until people are named, shamed sacked and prosecuted. One is tempted to say that the current Ghanaian government led by President Mills is failing to learn lessons from previous governments failure to tackle drug trafficking from within its own structures. The government must stop giving protection to Cocaine Barons now!

Patrick Jojo Mercer
Former Commercial Attaché,
Ghana High Commission, Australia
jojomercer@ymail.com