Ghana partners UN to rid sub-region of narcotics trade

Accra, June 16, GNA - Ghana is partnering the United Nations to counter the menace of drug trafficking rocking the country and the West African sub-region. To this end, the Vienna-based UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) is set to establish a Global Container Project, on a pilot basis, at the Tema Port before the end of the year to bust containers suspected to carry illicit substances.

"We are going to try to identify high risk containers, address the trade supply chain and improve security at the ports, as well as improve cooperation between the law enforcement agencies in your country to stem this problem," said Mr. Ketil Ottersen, Senior Programme Coordinator of the UNODC, in Accra on Tuesday.

Mr. Ottersen, at the head of a three-man team from the UNODC, was speaking to the media when he called on the Interior Minister, Dr. Kwame Addo-Kufuor to thrash out modalities for the commencement of the programme. "Ghana is a major transit point for drugs from South America to Europe...And this project, we believe, would counter the drug trade in the sub-region."

Ghana, along with Senegal, Pakistan and Ecuador, were selected for the UN programme to counter the narcotics trade. These countries have high seizure rates in terms of the quantum of drugs intercepted by authorities. Experts have contended that even though Ghana has gained notoriety for being a transit point in narcotics, it was also fast becoming a consuming country. The UNODC, as part of the preparatory phase of the project, has already established contact and trained several personnel from the Customs, Excise and Preventive Service (CEPS), the Police Service, the Narcotics Control Board and the Ghana Ports and Harbours Authority. "We have already established communications contact with several ports, and we are going to install modern technologies and equipment at the ports to mitigate the situation," Ottersen said. However, the crux of the modalities was held behind closed doors at the Interior Ministry because of what the sector Minister termed "sensitive nature of the discussion". Dr Addo-Kufuor, who assumed office after being sworn in last week, expressed regret about Ghana's "bad reputation worldwide" for the drug trade, saying, "We need to do away with this negativity that is ruining our country".