What NPP Dep National Communications Director said about cocaine shipment bust

Deputy National Communications Director of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Alhaji Mohammed Kamal-Deen Abdulai, has warned that the interception of a large cocaine shipment linked to Ghana could damage the country’s international image.

Kamal-Deen said the issue should be treated as a national concern rather than reduced to a contest between the NPP and NDC.

“So I think that if we begin awakening each other, we’ll be talking about it, and stop narrowing everything to MPP, NDC, we’ll be able to fight,” he said.

He made the comments in the wake of the September 10 interception by French customs authorities of nearly 3.9 metric tonnes of cocaine concealed in a container of plastic waste arriving from Ghana at the northern port of Dunkirk.

The cocaine was estimated to have a street value of €225 million, and the container was reportedly destined, in part, for Antwerp, Belgium.

Kamal-Deen said the development had consequences for how Ghana is viewed internationally because the shipment originated from the country.

“As we speak, the French authorities have indicted us in one way or the other that these containers were coming from Ghana. So Ghana is becoming a cooking country,” he said.

He argued that the situation could have been handled differently if the suspicious consignment had been identified and stopped before leaving Ghana.

“So if you had flagged it and arrested, I give you the original from what happened,” he said.

Kamal-Deen said the response should not stop at identifying weaknesses in the system but should also include punishment for people found responsible for allowing illicit activities to take place.

When asked whether he supported stiffer punishment, he responded: “Yes. People should be punished.”

He said Ghanaians needed to confront such problems collectively rather than allowing partisan interests to dominate discussions about security and drug trafficking.

Kamal-Deen also called for greater public awareness and stronger systems to prevent Ghana from becoming associated with the movement of illicit drugs.

He maintained that the cocaine seizure should serve as a warning that Ghana’s systems must be strengthened to prevent similar consignments from leaving the country.