US tags Ghana as major dugs transshipment point

THE NUMEROUS cocaine scandals that have bedeviled the country in recent times continue to carve a bad niche for Ghana’s corporate image in the eyes of the international community.

Latest among series of reports is that of the United States Department of State 2007 International Narcotic Control Strategy Report (INCSR) on Ghana, which puts Ghana in the spotlight as a major transshipment point of illegal drugs, particularly cocaine.

The nation’s premier Kotoka International Airport is captured as increasingly becoming a focus for traffickers.

Also, the Tema and Takoradi ports as well as border posts at Aflao, Elubo and Sampa are tagged as areas that often record significant drug trafficking activities.

According to a press release issued by the Public Affairs Section of the Embassy of the United States of America, in the year 2006 for instance, South American cocaine trafficking rings were said to have increased their foothold in the country, establishing well-developed distribution networks run by criminals from neighbouring Nigeria and Ghanaians themselves.

The report further quotes Ghana’s interest in attracting investment as providing a good cover for foreign drug barons to enter the country under the guise of doing legitimate business.

“However South American traffickers reduced their need to visit Ghana in person by increasing reliance on local partners, thus further insulating themselves from possible arrest by local authorities”.

Last year, a series of cocaine scandals rocked the country, including allegations of Police complicity in cocaine trafficking.

The report makes references to specific cases in which some parcels of cocaine in Police custody went missing from their evidence locker.

An ensuing investigation which received extensive domestic media attention quickly expanded to other cases, prominent among which was that of the interception of a ship, MV Benjamin, thought to have been carrying as much as two tons of cocaine of which the authorities only seized thirty kilogrammes.

The scandal intensified when a secret recording surfaced that caught an Assistant Commissioner of Police, Kofi Boakye, currently on interdiction and other drug barons discussing why they had not been alerted about the two tons cocaine shipment.

However, at the same time but in a separate case, a certain Grace Asibi alleged that a different Senior Police Official, Superintendent Tabiri requested an amount of US$200,000 as bribe to drop a case against her boyfriend, a foreign cocaine baron.

The incumbent New Patriotic Party (NPP) government and the main opposition party, the National Democratic Congress used the scandal to accuse each other of allowing the country to become a transshipment point for cocaine and heroine bound for other countries.

As a result of these scandals, government has renewed its focus on how to combat the narcotics trade.

The report noted that illicit drug trafficking has also fueled increasing domestic consumption, with cannabis use on the increase in Ghana as in the case of its cultivation.

The country’s law enforcement agencies have repeatedly raised concerns that narcotics rings were growing in size, strength, organization and capacity for violence.

On its part, the report said government has mounted significant public education programmes, as well as cannabis substitution programmes as a form of controlling the cultivation of the drug.

The US government however appreciates the fact that, Ghana as a corporate country “does not, as matter of government policy, encourage or facilitate illicit production or distribution of narcotic or psychotropic drugs or other controlled substances, or laundering of proceeds from illegal drug transactions nor is any senior official known to engage in, encourage or facilitate narcotics production or trafficking”.

The report bemoaned that despite the regular arrests of suspected narcotics traffickers, the country has an extremely low rate of conviction, which law enforcement officials indicate was likely due primarily to corruption within the judicial system.

The backlog of cases pending at trials and the already limited resources facing the judiciary, remain problems in controlling drug trafficking in Ghana, the report observed.

According to the report, “Officials of the Narcotics Control Board have constantly complained that the courts often release suspected smugglers, including foreign nationals on bail that was often set at only a tiny fraction of the value of drugs found in a suspect’s possession.

“The Court requirement of a surety is either dropped or court registrars will fraudulently use identical property as surety for multiple cases.

“Though Ghana made progress in late 2006 addressing its legislative and enforcement deficiencies, the US believes that “there is a long road ahead”, the report added.