NACOB board chair fumes over dissolution of Board

Outgoing Chairman of the governing board of the Narcotics Control Board (NACOB) Naval Captain (Retired) Baffour Assasie-Gyimah has broken his silence on last week’s decision by President John Dramani Mahama to dissolve his board over the arrest of a 32-year-old Ghanaian at the Heathrow International Airport for trafficking illicit drugs.

He said the decision by the president is to create an “erroneous impression as if the Board had done something untoward.”

In a strongly worded statement, the lawyer-cum-politician indicated that the president’s decision is unfathomable.

“I cannot understand why the dissolution took place,” he stated.

“Could it be a case of sacrificing a weak and innocent lamb to appease an angry and besieged god?” he wondered.

He acknowledged the president’s power to hire and fire but said last Saturday’s decision has affected “the hard-won integrity and reputation of the individual members of the Board who have striven at great sacrifices to put NACOB on an even keel.”

“In truth, this is not the way my Board should exit NACOB,” the retired naval captain lamented.

The board – made up of 17 members – was dissolved in a statement from the presidency, indicating that “further actions...will follow in due course”.

The board was dissolved as a result of the conflicting statements issued by NACOB’s Deputy Executive Secretay, Richard Nii Lante Blankson, and the British High Commission over “collaborative efforts” in busting Nayele Ametefeh.

Naval Capt. (rtd) Assasie-Gyimah lent credence to NACOB’s statement, stressing “collaborative effort between NACOB and its British partners cannot be doubted.”

“I have become privy to hard evidence on it.”