Majority Leader and Leader of Government Business, Hon. James Agalga, has defended the government’s campaign against narcotics trafficking, arguing that rising arrests point to stronger detection and not a growing drug trade. The Builsa North MP spoke on Ghana’s measures against narcotics exposure after a run of seizures linked to the country.
Hon. Agalga listed the return of the Narcotics Control Commission (NACOC) to the entry points, a bigger workforce, new detection technology and closer cooperation with foreign security agencies. He also dismissed doubts about Ghana’s collaboration with Lebanon on the Beirut seizure and asked Ghanaians to support the security agencies.
“More arrests mean enhanced detection capabilities.”
Majority Leader and Builsa North MP, Hon James Agalga
Hon. Agalga began with the commission itself. The Narcotic Control Commission(NACOC) was dislodged from the entry points some time ago, he explained, and the Mahama government has now reinstated it. The commission will add staff so that it has a presence across the length and breadth of the country, and it will be retooled for the work ahead
He noted that President John Dramani Mahama has not hidden his intention to see NACOC deploy sophisticated detection technologies, so that nobody can penetrate the country’s systems. Hon. Agalga described the reinstatement as a starting point, with many other measures behind it.
No Country Can Fight Alone
Narcotics crime crosses borders, Hon James Agalga observed, so the response must cross them too. He insisted that “one country cannot fight alone” and that Ghana needs partnerships with other countries.
Controlled delivery, in which agencies monitor a consignment so that arrests happen at its destination, cannot work without counterparts abroad, he argued.
The government will therefore enhance its coordination with foreign intelligence and security agencies. Mr Kumadoe, a security consultant and former intelligence officer, has made a related case, arguing that the Beirut seizure shows Ghana’s intelligence coordination works.
Doubts Over the Lebanon Collaboration
The Beirut seizure involved 46.7 kilogrammes of cocaine, reportedly carried by a Syrian national who travelled from Accra. It prompted questions about whether Ghana truly worked with Lebanese authorities
The Minority has asked why NACOC claims joint operational credit when the Lebanese public account does not cite Ghana’s role. Hon. Agalga called the doubts “quite bizarre.”
“When international security agencies collaborate and one of them comes out to say we are collaborating, you don’t have cause to doubt that.”
Majority Leader and Builsa North MP, Hon James Agalga
He added that the government does not want to disclose sensitive operational details. Criminals who learn the country’s strategies, and those of its partners, could then plan around them, he reasoned.
Arrests Read as a Sign of Strength
Hon. James Agalga turned to critics who point to the number of arrests as proof that the narcotics trade is advancing in Ghana. He found that reading strange. If the agencies were making no arrests, he reasoned, traffickers would be getting away with their activities unchecked.
He had made the same argument earlier, when he credited a surge in narcotics busts to the NDC’s strategic measures. His remarks, however, give no arrest or seizure figures to test either reading.
His defence meets a sharper challenge in Parliament. The Minority challenged the Speaker’s ruling that dismissed its motion for a narcotics probe, after the Speaker dismissed that motion in September. The House has since resumed, and the Minority has filed a fresh motion.
Minority Leader Alexander Kwamena Afenyo-Markin has demanded that the government explain why traffickers keep exploiting Ghana’s ports. He pointed to seizures abroad that include consignments hidden in timber, cassava flour, charcoal and plastic waste.
Outside Parliament, Mr Kumadoe has backed the surveillance push, saying Ghana is becoming hostile to drug traffickers. He has also urged faster drug prosecutions and more resources for NACOC.
A Call to Back the Security Agencies
Hon. James Agalga closed by asking Ghanaians to support the security agencies as they work to deliver results. A lot is happening, he stated, to keep Ghana from becoming a safe destination for the narcotics trade, and he judged progress so far to be good.
The fresh Minority motion will show whether Parliament shares that view or insists on its own inquiry into how drugs keep moving through the country’s ports.
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