Presidential Aide Stan Dogbe says Ghanaians should not be surprised at the jitters felt by members of the opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP) over threats by the Executive Secretary of the Narcotics Control Board to pursue any politician who dares use drug money to influence next year�s elections.
The NPP, according to Stan Dogbe, �took offence obviously because they know what their record as far Ghana�s situation was. Wikileaks made it very clear to us that the NPP government benefited from funding from drug barons.�
He was speaking on MultiTV�s Majority Caucus on reaction of some members of the NPP to an ominous warning issued by the NACOB boss, Mr Yaw Akrasi Sarpong that he had information some politicians intended to use drug money for next year�s election and that he will not allow that to happen.
Some members of the opposition party have accused Mr Akrasi Sarpong of doing propaganda with his comments � an accusation he has flatly rejected � but Stan Dogbe says the reaction of the NPP simply betrays their lack of commitment to fighting the drug menace.
He said apart from benefitting from the drug trade in Ghana, the Kufuor administration systematically and deliberately weakened the anti-drug agency, NACOB.
The administration �weakened NACOB to the extent that �they appointed people to positions and weakened them so they cannot do anything,� he said, adding that �you are having the Obiri Boahenes who were ministers of state at the Interior Ministry [and] were part of the process of weakening NACOB to a very large extent so that the fight against drugs would not succeed.�
Although the Kufuor government in collaboration with the British government instituted the Operation West Bridge to deal with the drug menace, the government, according to Mr Dogbe, purposely frustrated the British officials to the extent that they threatened to leave.
The Presidential Aide contended that former President John Kufuor never subjected himself to searches and body scanning at the Kotoka International Airport as did his successor, President J.E.A. Mills. That for him was a clear indication that the leadership of the NPP and government did not trust their cleanliness as far as the drug trade was concerned.
Wikileaks reports controversy remain
The Guardian newspaper in the United Kingdom last year quoted President Mills as expressing fears that persons in his own entourage could be engaged in smuggling drugs through the presidential lounge of the Kotoka Airport and therefore asked a senior UK customs official in November 2009 for help to screen them but "in the privacy of his suite to avoid any surprises if they are caught carrying drugs".
But the government of Ghana, the US Embassy and some former officials of NACOB condemned the leakage of the cables by whistle blowers, Wikileaks, on which the Guardian story was based.
�If you take all the Wikileaks reports; all the ones that had to do with our time, that is the Mills administration�s time, are words of commendation for president Mills and his administration for the efforts that they were making to ensure that the drug menace was curtailed in this country,� said Mr Dogbe.
He rehashed media reports that a man suspected could be appointed Chief of Staff in �the unlikely event" "that Nana Akufo-Addo wins 2012 is a known drug [addict], �was jailed for drug [offences].�
Mr Dogbe challenged the NPP to assure �the people of this country that should the NPP ever come to power again, the international acclaim that we are enjoying now, the clean environment that we have now where we do not have drugs permeating our system, will not come back with the NPP.�
An activist of the governing NDC, Mr Felix Kwakye Ofosu, supporting Mr Dogbe�s argument, said the NPP was being haunted by their failures which made the trade flourish in Ghana.
He said the NPP must repair their image by desisting from doing things that seek to confirm the perception that they are committed to the fight against drugs in the country.
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