Kweku Baako: It�s Gimmickry�I Respect Mills A Lot, But This One�Is A Complete Joke

The mysterious metamorphosis of 1,020 grams of cocaine into sodium bicarbonate in a controversial court case involving the Police, the Prosecution, the Defence and the Judiciary last week is still making the headlines.

It seems the biggest enemy to the fight against the drug menace in Ghana is not entirely the lack of competent personnel to handle the issue, but rather the dodgy partisan-political approach to any discussion and handling of the drug menace.

The largest opposition party, the New Patriotic Party (NPP) feels vindicated and maintains that attempts by the National Democratic Congress to continue to label them as Narcotic Peddlers Party has fallen flat in their face after a cocaine exhibit turned into sodium bicarbonate.

The NDC has always cited the 77 parcels of cocaine retrieved from the MV Benjamin vessel which later turned into cassava powder (konkonte) in 2007 as an attestation of the NPP�s endorsement of the narcotic trade in the country.

Indeed the NPP finds the latest cocaine hoax a perfect platform to pay back the NDC, who prior to the 2008 elections, accused them (NPP) of virtually benefitting from proceeds of cocaine sale, with the NDC even going to the extent of saying that some leading members of the NPP, including its presidential candidate, Nana Akufo-Addo, are engaged in the drug trade. To the NPP, it is not out of place if they pounce on the current cocaine-trial fiasco, which has happened during this NDC administration, and use it in the same fashion the NDC dealt out to the NPP.

But the NDC claim that unlike the NPP days, the Mills-Mahama government acted very swiftly to unravel the mystery behind the cocaine-turned-washing soda by instituting committees to investigate the issue.

Speaking to the issue on JoyFM�s news analysis programme, �Newsfile�, Editor-In-Chief of the �New Crusading Guide�, Malik Kweku Baako, posited that the nation might lose the war against the drug menace, because of the penchant to just apportion blame to suit one�s political biases.

Resisting the temptation to go in a certain direction during his submission, the Senior Journalist however pointed out that if �one was to itemize the specifics, between 1994 to 1999, 300 drug-related cases were not properly or adequately prosecuted or not prosecuted at all.�

��.it was not the government directly, deliberately, consciously doing it. In my candid opinion, that�s not the judgment I�m making. This (the drug trade) is a phenomenon and the more you deal with or do not deal with it properly, the people grow wings�From 1970 to today, we have been challenged by this particular menace�,� he said.

To buttress his point, he quoted religiously from a Ghanaian Times publication dated September 20th, 2008 and captioned �Drug Barons Now Scared Of Ghana� which had Fernando Vas Ventura, leader of an European Union Security Delegation giving his assessment of the level of anti-narcotic trafficking operations at the Kotoka International Airport (KIA).

��for me, the bottom-line is, whether it got missing at the police station, or at the courts or in-between, or in transit, the effect, in fact the value is the same relative to the image of Ghana on the global level. It�s a negative, it�s a minus�Let�s be honest, we were hugely challenged with the matter under Kufuor�s administration. The impression should not be created that no efforts were made to combat it. There are many instances of arrests, interceptions and trials and convictions�.Example, the Venezuelan drug barons and the rest�That�s not to say there were no loopholes or lapses�Alex (Segbefia) is talking of how much they are doing today, he�s not suggesting for a moment that they have closed the door (to the drug-trade), because it is occurring and here we are discussing this particular matter.�

But the Deputy Chief of Staff, Alex Segbefia, who was also part of the panel, quickly sought to make an intervention and stated that despite the gains made by the previous government in the fight against the drug trade a strong perception still lingered on in the minds of the public that the trade in the illicit product had �escalated�.

�The point about drugs just like prostitution is like all crime; it will always exist and that is why you have police forces and security agencies working. At certain points, certain offences escalate to a point where governments or institutions have to take extra efforts to stamp it out�Notwithstanding the arrests and the work that was done (by the Kufuor administration), at the very least, there was a perception not the reality�that the drug trade that had occurred in Ghana in the period of between say 2000-2008, had escalated to a point where it had to be dealt with that�s why even Operation Westbridge came about�.,� he said.

Asked by the host, Matilda Asante �if there is a contrary perception now�, the Deputy Chief of Staff quickly replied �I believe there is. I believe now the perception now is that efforts have been made; strongly demonstratable by even the examples set by the President himself.

But Kweku Baako quickly cut in pooh-poohing the NDC�s much-touted tenacity in combating the drug menace in the country. He dismissed the recent body search President Mills submitted himself to at the KIA as �empty populism� and mere �gimmickry�.

�What are you talking about? How many presidents are put in that manner? Look, it�s even degrading of the Office of the President. Globally, it is not recognized, it is not done anywhere�When he gets to the other jurisdictions, why doesn�t he get himself searched? Because it�s not right, they will be shocked. If the Ghanaian President invites US immigration to physically search him, they would not even do it. It is not done anywhere. It is gimmickry that has no value in international diplomacy�take it from me�This whole thing is a joke�That thing is a joke�I respect the president a lot, but this one I�m prepared to say it is a complete joke,� he said.

President J.E.A Mills on Tuesday, September 13th 2010, subjected himself to a thorough security check at the KIA en route to the US to attend the 66th UN General Assembly.

It would be recalled that earlier in May 2009, President Mills subjected himself to a body search at the KIA en route to the United Kingdom for a three-day official visit of the Queen of England.

Though some described it as political populism, the Communications Director at the Office of the Presidency, Koku Anyidoho explained that the move by the president would rather incapacitate drug barons seeking to use Ghana as the route to traffic the illegal substances. He gave the assurance that the move will not be a �nine day wonder� but a demonstration to Ghanaians and the world of his government�s open commitment to the fight against the narcotic trade which has engulfed the country.

Source: Chris Joe Quaicoe/Peacefmonline.com