EDITORIAL: Drugs - We Refuse to Carry the World's Guilt!

We are getting rather annoyed by attempts at home and abroad to treat Ghana as though it had become a narco-state just because news of some banned drugs like cocaine have made it to the media. Question: Which country on this planet does not have similar stories?

It is a worldwide problem, which the dirty appetites of people, mainly in the industrialized countries of the world keeps feeding on and expanding.

A few years ago when the Taleban held sway in Afghanistan, at least, they were able to control the supply of heroin somewhat by attacking poppy farming.

They are no more, now Afghanistan is under the watchful eyes of the UN and NATO and poppy farming is back in a big way! If NATO with all the military hardware and sophisticated surveillance methods is failing so spectacularly there, what can a poor country like Ghana do? The US has poured billions of dollars into the narco-states of Latin America over the years with very little to show for it.

The point we are driving at is that, yes, international drug dealers are probably targeting our sub-region to use as a conduit for their evil to get to the US and Europe; we are victim not a willing partner in that enterprise.

Our government and law enforcement agencies are doing the best they can with considerable success; sometimes they fail, like the cases currently being tried in court in connection with missing parcels of cocaine in police custody.

With limited resources to go into health, education, agriculture, infrastructure development, modernizing the economy and national security, you can very well understand that there would be very little left for us to inundate our shoreline with a flotilla of vessels to stop, search and apprehend any ship that enters our territorial waters. We just do not have those kinds of resources, period!

The drug menace is a global one. If we want to stamp it out, the world must collaborate in a more sincere manner and not try to look for scapegoats.

And so for heaven's sake, the western media (and some of the naïve or rather mischievous local ones) must leave us alone! BBC even sent in a reporter to portray our country as a dangerous drug infested country! How unfair, how misleading!

Through the vigilance of our law enforcement authorities, we have just been able to nab two British brats who've come to abuse the hospitality of our peaceful country with their attempt to smuggle cocaine in their laptops! These two suspected drug couriers are being treated like heroes by their country's media while Ghana is presented in the worst of lights! Ghana owes nobody any apologies. The suspects must face the full rigours of our country's laws just as Ghanaians are facing in other counties for similar or other transgressions.

As to guilt, no way, Ghana will not and must not carry the guilt of the world. Those local politicians, especially in the NDC, who think that by holding up Ghana as a narco-state to gain political points, are getting it all wrong.

They must think again. It is not the NPP administration they are holding up to international opprobrium, it is their country Ghana! What Ghana can do and must do is to continue collaborating with the international community to help stamp out this trade in banned substances - all dangerous substances including those that can be employed in chemical warfare.

On the home front, the local law enforcement agencies and indeed every citizen, must remain vigilant and honest in dealing with this menace. That's all we can do for the moment - really