First Deputy Minority Whip and Member of Parliament for Tolon, Habib Iddrisu, says a parliamentary inquiry is needed to identify weaknesses in Ghana’s systems for preventing drug trafficking and recommend reforms.
His comments follow the Speaker of Parliament Alban Bagbin’s decision to dismiss a Minority motion seeking a bipartisan parliamentary inquiry into major narcotics consignments linked to Ghana, on grounds that the proposed probe overlaps with matters currently before the courts.
Mr Iddrisu, who filed the motion for the establishment of an Ad Hoc Committee, said the proposed inquiry was not intended to put security agencies on trial but to establish what went wrong and determine how existing systems could be strengthened.
He said the Police, Narcotics Control Commission (NACOC) and National Intelligence Bureau may have the willingness to fight drug trafficking but could be constrained by inadequate resources.
“I did not say I don’t trust or I don’t think our security agencies; either the police, NACOC, National Intelligence Bureau can’t do it, but they might have the will and the zeal to do it, but the resources even to be able to do it, if they can’t, what can you do?” Mr Iddrisu said
He said Parliament’s role would be to examine the procedures through which narcotics consignments are processed, inspected and cleared, including the scanning and clearance systems at the country’s ports.
Mr Iddrisu said the proposed bipartisan probe would seek answers to key questions surrounding the recent drug seizures, including what went wrong, how it happened, who allowed it to happen and how similar incidents could be prevented.
He added that Parliament could also recommend changes to laws establishing the relevant security and narcotics enforcement institutions if weaknesses were identified.
“So what I’m saying is that what we seek to do is not to try or to put those agencies under trial, but what we seek to do is to ask: What went wrong? How did it happen? Why did it happen? Who let it happen? How do we stop it? How do we prevent it and how do we help you to make sure that what is happening doesn’t happen anymore?” he said.
Mr Iddrisu contrasted the proposed parliamentary inquiry with the role of the courts, saying the two processes would serve different purposes.
”What the court is seeking to do is just to say that you have been charged, or it is alleged that you have committed this offence of exporting this and that, and for that matter whether you are guilty or not — and they look into the matter and then they will be able to judge you.
“The courts will not be able to do what Parliament seeks to do. And we will even bring reforms in terms of… if we think that there is a problem in the law that established the national security, or that established the narcotics [agency], that established the BNI and other agencies,” he added.
The Minority’s motion followed a series of major narcotics seizures involving consignments linked to Ghana, including the reported seizure of nearly 3.9 tonnes of cocaine by French customs at Dunkirk and 320 kilogrammes of methamphetamine by Australian authorities.
The proposed inquiry was intended to examine how the consignments were processed, inspected, cleared and exported, as well as the adequacy of scanning, intelligence, surveillance and other enforcement systems.
Source: Newspyramid.com
