It has never been in doubt that since Ghana discovered oil in commercial quantity, President Mills and his National Democratic Congress (NDC) government, have equipped the security agencies, particularly the Ghana Navy, as regards the protection of this resource to the maximum benefit of all Ghanaians.
Aside this cardinal reason on the part of the President Mills-led NDC administration to adequately resourced the Ghana Navy, whose services cannot be taken for granted as far as this nation’s oil find is concerned, one most important rationale, is to stop Nana Akufo-Addo and his opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP) of their intention to engage in any drug-related trade, especially cocaine, using Ghana’s territorial waters.
Captured in the latest of US diplomatic cable release by Mr. Julian Assange’s whistle-blower website, Wikileaks, of how flippant and unwary the Kufuor-led-NPP administration had been in its fight against the drug trade, which, at that period destroyed the highly cherished reputation of this country; it’s therefore, a tacit admission that the NPP as a political party has a very great affection towards drug barons as well as narcotic trade.
According to the Wikileaks report, aside the dismissive attitude of the NPP government at the time, with regards to the fight against the drug menace, very key members of the Kufuor administration were said to be neck-deep in the drug business.
However, unlike the Kufuor-led-NPP regime that entirely collapsed the military and refuses to equipped it, President John Mills, in just three (3) years into his administration, has resourced the military to enable it carry out its constitutionally mandated task of protecting the nation’s territorial boundaries, as the four (4) patrol ships commissioned last Monday by President Mills speak volume of how resolved the President is, in fighting the drug trade.
In his State of the Nation Address delivered last Thursday, February 16th, 2012, His Excellency President John Evans Atta Mills, emphatically stated that under his watch, Ghana will continue to be unattractive destination for the illicit drug trade; and feels no pain for those who are no longer benefitting from the trade.
The above statement is not only a testimony of the President in his avowed stance to clamp down on those already in the illicit drug trade, but equally to advise those with the intention to join; and that is why it is important that Akufo Addo and his NPP who have shown much affection to drug barons, like Mr. Yaw Amfo-Kwakye, should never dream of engaging in such business with the security agencies, like the Ghana Navy, resourced, and put on the high alert.
It would be recalled that under his watch as Defence Minister, Kwame Addo Kufuor had ignored information from the INTERPOL as regards the activities of the MV Benjamin affairs, and allowed the ship to berth in Ghana.
Indeed, for some strange reasons, the Navy patrol boats then on the high seas, were recalled back to base, with the silly excuses that the navy personnel had run out of food ration, indicating the Kufuor government’s unpreparedness to fight the illicit drug trade, like President Mills is demonstrating now; through adequate equipment of the Ghana Navy.
His Excellency President John Evans Atta Mills on Monday, 20th February 2012 commissioned four fast patrol ships ordered from China, by the Ministries of Defence (MOD) and Food and Agriculture (MOFA), at the Western Naval Command, Sekondi.
The ships, GNS Blika P34, GNS Garinga P35, GNS Chemle P36 and GNS Ehwor P37, procured for the Ghana Navy will not only help in the fight against piracy on the country’s territorial waters as far as Ghana’s discovery of oil in commercial quantities is concerned, but will enable them to clamp down on those who have made their minds to use avenue to facilitate trade in the illicit drug trade.