By Christopher Arko
Accra, Nov 05 GNA -The Opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP) has accused the Mahama Government of pampering cocaine and illicit drug activities in the country.
According to the NPP, the President appears to be supervising this canker and has not shown any strong leadership in dealing with the problem.
“Let’s be clear … the recuring interception of cocaine and other narcotic substances originating from Ghana is a great threat to our national security and a humongous international reputational embarrassment. This has really dented the image and integrity of our country,”
Mr Henry Nana Boakye, Second National Vice Chairman of the NPP said.
Nana Boakye made the accusation when he addressed a press conference in Accra on the recent cocaine seizure in Beirut, Lebanon, said to have originated from Ghana.
The NPP Second National Vice Chairman observed that the recurring interception of cocaine abroad traced to Ghana was no longer just a law enforcement problem but a national image crisis.
Nana Boakye said between March 2025 and October 2026, Ghana recorded no fewer than 14 major drug busts, with cocaine seized abroad alone carrying an estimated street value of US$1.7 billion.
He indicated that the list runs from Amsterdam to Beirut, with nearly 4.5 tones in wood from Ghana seized at Amsterdam in June 2025; 2.8 tones in cassava flour from Tema seized at Antwerp in November 2025; a further 1.2 tones at Antwerp in December 2025; about 3.9 tones in plastic waste seized at Dunkirk in September 2026, valued at about €225 million; and 46.7kg carried by a Syrian national arrested in Beirut on October 31, 2026, after flying from Accra on Middle-East Airlines.
He added that 320 kilogrammes of illicit drugs worth about US$210 million seized in Australia in April 2026 in charcoal shipped from Ghana, and heroin seized from a passenger who arrived in Johannesburg from Accra in September 2026.
Nana Boakye also noted the damage was already being felt by ordinary Ghanaians pointing out that honest travellers and exporters, now faced extra suspicion at foreign airports and ports because of a trade they have nothing to do with.
He said to date, “Not a single head had rolled, not at the NACOC, not at Ghana Airports Company, not at Ghana Ports and Harbours Authority, not at National Security. Ghana’s name in the headlines from Amsterdam to Beirut and yet every appointee remains at post, untouched and unbothered,” he said.
Nana Boakye explained that after the Dunkirk seizure, the President chaired an emergency security meeting on September 17, 2026, and gave an inter-agency task force two weeks to deliver a roadmap. He said the deadline was on October 1, 2026, and five weeks later, Ghanaians have still not seen that roadmap.
He, therefore, called for the immediate sacking of the heads of the Narcotics Control Commission, Ghana Airport Company, Ghana Ports and Harbours Authority and the National Security, subject to independent investigation, a bipartisan parliamentary inquiry with public hearings, and publication of the missing roadmap within seven days.
He also asked for the publication of all diplomatic and service passports issued since January 2025 and suspension of the Tema-Cartagena direct shipping link until a security review is laid before Parliament.
GNA
Edited by Benjamin Mensah
Reporter: Christopher Arko, GNA
Reporter’s email address: [email protected]