NPP Has No Moral Right to Lecture NDC on Narcotics — Alexander Ackuako

Former Bortianor-Ngleshie Amanfro NDC parliamentary candidate Alexander Ackuako has waded into the growing political debate over narcotics trafficking in Ghana, accusing the New Patriotic Party (NPP) of politicising the issue instead of supporting a united national response.

In a deliberation on Kessben Maakye show in Accra, Ackuako argued that the NPP lacks the “moral right” to attack the current government over recent narcotics cases, pointing to drug-related controversies that occurred during previous NPP administrations.

His remarks come amid renewed exchanges between the NPP and NDC over recent cocaine interceptions and Ghana’s drug-enforcement system.

He referenced the case of former Nkoranza North MP Eric Amoateng, who was arrested in the United States in 2005 and later convicted and sentenced to 10 years in prison over heroin-related offences and Frank Samson, an NPP an affiliate who was recently busted with cocaine traficking issues.

In lieu of this, he questioned why the NPP would demand that the Interior Minister be sacked instead of commending the government for making arrests of cocaine dealers.

According to Ackuako, drug traffickers can be wealthy, influential and capable of cultivating relationships with people in authority, making political division over narcotics enforcement dangerous.
He therefore urged both major political parties to focus on how criminal networks infiltrate institutions rather than trading accusations.
“When drug dealers realise we are divided in tackling the cocaine saga, they will take advantage of the situation,” he cautioned.

Ghana’s Narcotics Control Commission has recently said it is intensifying intelligence-led operations, forensic investigations and cross-border cooperation to combat increasingly sophisticated trafficking Network.