NDC desperately running from shadows of Nayele coke scandal - NPP

The main opposition New Patriotic Party has accused the governing National Democratic Congress of desperately seeking to absolve itself from complicity in the 12-kg Nayele cocaine saga which broke late last year.

A statement signed by the NPP’s Director of Communication Nana Akomea said a press conference held by the General Secretary of the NDC Johnson Asiedu Nketia on Wednesday January 14, 2015 in which he accused the NPP of complicity in that particular cocaine case, betrayed the party’s desperation in the matter.

General Mosquito, as Asiedu Nketia is popularly known, told Journalists at the conference that the NPP’s past history as a party that endorses and dabbles in drug trafficking made it more tenable to link the party to the Nayele cocaine saga than the NDC.

Thirty-three-year old Nayele Ametefeh – who holds both Ghanaian and Austrian passports – was arrested at the Heathrow Airport in London in November last year with 12kgs of cocaine on her.

In the midst of the controversy following Ametefeh’s arrest, Ghana’s foreign affairs Minister Hanna Tetteh told the media that the courier had told Ghana’s mission in London that though she had no idea she was trafficking drugs, she was prepared to be punished for the crime.

Tetteh told Radio Gold that Ametefeh had said she thought she was trafficking gold rather than cocaine.

The main opposition NPP punched holes in the narration of the Minister and accused the Government of attempting to cover up its assistance to Ametefeh in using the VVIP lounge of the Kotoka International Airport.

However, General Mosquito said Wednesday that: “In the Nayale drama, what the NPP has succeeded in doing is to divert attention of the possibility of their own involvement in the scandal.”

According to him, while the current Government has “demonstrated zero tolerance for the drug business,” the NPP on the other hand cannot boast of same.

Asiedu Nketia, who accused the NPP of being a party that dabbles in, and endorses drug trafficking sought to buttress his assertion by reference to the arrest – over a decade ago – and jailing of a former NPP MP Eric Amoateng in the US for 10 years for drug trafficking.

“The NPP in their unrepentant mood organised its members to give him a hero’s welcome at the Kotoka International Airport,” Mosquito said.

“As if this is not enough proof of NPP’s official complicity in the drug business, a ship load of 77 parcels of cocaine vanished in Ghana under the watch of the NPP and has since not been found to date,” he added.

Adducing further substance to link the NPP to the Ametefeh saga, Asiedu Nketia said around the same time when the courier was arrested in the UK, the NPP was hosting a fund raising dinner there.

He therefore wants the authorities to investigate whether “her trip to the UK was purely coincidental to the movement of the top gurus in the NPP for a fund raising event in London.”

In a direct response, however, the NPP said Mosquito’s press conference “should be seen by all objective Ghanaians as a desperate attempt to escape the hard questions that government must answer in connection with this scandal.”

Below is the rest of the statement:

Mr. Asiedu Nketia makes false claims against the NPP:

1. That the NPP had posted a picture of a known NDC lady and tagged her as Nayele Ametefe. The NPP did no such thing. We also saw pictures on social media. We have nothing to do with those pictures. Aseidu Nketiah’s confusion is shown by his statement that, “Mrs. Ruby Adu Gyamfi of NDC swiftly responded with a press conference…” We hasten to add that the name Ruby Adu Gyamfi is one of the known aliases of Nayele Ametefi, who at that material time was in custody in Britain and could not have been responding to the NPP with a press conference.

2. Asiedu Nketiah accuses the NPP of claiming Nayele travelled with a diplomatic passport. This is also false. Nowhere in the NPP’s 7th January statement did we make this claim. Indeed we also read the claims from the media including the Austrian newspapers online.

3. Asiedu Nketiah accuses the NPP of alleging that Nayele traveled through the VVIP at Kotoka International airport. This is also false. Indeed, the Attorney General’s charge sheet against some individuals arrested in connection with this matter stated, “VVIP”. Testimony from one Alhaji Dawud who had been arrested also indicated that Nayele travelled through the VVIP.

4. Asiedu Nketiah accuses the NPP of linking staff of the Ghana High Commission in London to the scandal. This is also false. Nowhere in the NPP statement, was this accusation made. We had asked if it was a mere co-incidence that a diplomatic car was at the tarmac at the airport, to pick someone at the time of Nayele Ametefe’s arrest on the aircraft.

5. Asiedu Nketiah pathetically recites the allegation that three (3) NPP women from Dzowulu Accra were arrested with cocaine in 2002. That allegation was made by an NDC newspaper and it has not been proven up till today.

6. The pathetic allegations continue with the arrest and conviction of former NPP MP for Nkoranza North, Eric Amoateng. Amoateng’s salary was rightly paid until he was convicted. The NDC’s General Secretary should know that an accused person on trial is not the same as a convicted person.

The claim that Amoateng passed through VIP at the Kotoka Airport neglects the fact that as a Member of Parliament, Eric Amoateng was entitled to use the VIP. The records also do not show that Amoateng carried cocaine through the Kotoka International airport. The person who was heard on national radio calling for a warm reception for Amoateng on his return, was the NDC DCE for Nkoranza North.

7. Asiedu Nketia brazenly accuses the NPP of de-confiscation of properties of convicted drug barons. It would have been helpful to the nation if the NDC General Secretary had mentioned the names of the drug barons whose properties were de-confiscated.

8. Asiedu Nketia makes references to wiki-leaks allegations. He conveniently forgets wiki-leaks allegations about President Mills’ remarks on complicity of members of his own government in using the VVIP for narcotic business.

9. The NDC’s General Secretary’s claims that the NPP did not pass any legislation against narcotics. This is another lie. Over three hundred (300) narcotic cases had not been prosecuted before 2001 because the suspects, upon bail, simply run-away from the country. The NPP amended (the law) legislation to make narcotics a non-bailable offence, and that made Ghana an unattractive destination for narcotics.

It will be of interest to Asiedu Nketiah and the NDC that the NPP in collaboration with the British introduced Operation Westbridge, which led to successful arrests of narcotic traffickers at the Kotoka Airport.

10. Asiedu Nketiah’s attempt to link Nayele Ametefe’s cocaine smuggling to a supposed NPP fundraising event in London is at best pathetic and desperate.

Despite Asiedu Nketiah’s desperation, the following questions still remain:

1. How was Nayele able to access the VVIP/ Presidential Transit lounge at Kotoka Airport?

2. How did she carry undetected, 12kg of cocaine in her hand luggage through the VVIP/ Presidential Transit lounge?

3. What gave her the confidence that she would be able to go through the Heathrow Airport with 12k of Cocaine in her hand luggage? Or did she not plan to go through the airport, but similarly, use the VIP at Heathrow airport as she had done at Kotoka?

4. Why was she arrested on the air craft and not allowed to disembark? Did the British authorities not believe that she will go through the airport?

5. Is it coincidence that there was a Ghanaian diplomatic car on the tarmac to pick someone and thus not go through the airport?

6. Why the seeming confusion among organs of government such as NACOB over collaboration, and the Attorney General and Ministry of Communications on whether she used the VVIP or not?

7. Why has government shown no interest in uncovering the names of Nayele Ametefe’s powerful backers in Ghana?

These questions are still crying for answers.

…Signed…

Nana Akomea

(Communications Director)