Opinions of Tuesday, 7 October 2008

Columnist: Ato Kwamena Dadzie

Total Recall: When Kofi Boakye met with alleged drug barons

A few days ago, the interdicted police director of operations, ACP Kofi Boakye, was called to the bar. He is now a lawyer. And his journey to the bar has been quite a joyous, glorious ride as he graduated top of his graduating class at Ghana Law School. He won five awards in all.

But cast your mind to just a couple of years ago.

In 2006, Kofi Boakye had a lot of explaining to do after a secret tape recording of a meeting he allegedly held in his house with some suspected drug barons was made public. It all had to do with the disappearance of 77 parcels of cocaine aboard the MV Benjamin, a vessel under security guard at the Tema Port.

Chief Justice Georgina Woode (then a judge of the Supreme Court) led a panel to investigate the matter. Her committee recommended the prosecution of Boakye and several others. That hasn't happened and rather ironically, Mrs Woode was the one who presented Boakye with his top prize at the graduation ceremony... More on this later.

For now, though, here is the transcript of the secret recording of the conversation supposedly between the alleged drug barons in the missing 77 parcels of cocaine at the Tema Harbour and ACP Kofi Boakye, Director-General of Operations of the Police Service. Click here to read full article