Lack Of Leadership Materials In The NPP Is A Time Bomb!

* Part Two.

*

NPP On Cocaine: Obetsebi-Lamptey Is Pathetic!

Feature Article,

by Nana Akyea Mensah

'Ghana's election campaign could be tarnished by money from West African

drug trafficking, an official has said. Kwesi Aning, head of research at the

Kofi Annan International Peacekeeping Training Centre, said the "very

fabric" of Ghanaian society was under threat.

- BBC. 'Drug money 'tainting Ghana

poll',

28 October 2008 18:46 GMT

In a news story which first appeared on Joy Online and reported in the

General News of Monday, 27 June 2011, on Ghanaweb, Name and shame

politicians who use narcotic money - Dr.

Aning,Dr.

Aning, who is the Director of Research at the Kofi Annan Peace Keeping

Centre says, the call by the Director of NACOB, Mr. Akrasi Sarpong, who in

an interview told Joy FM’s Sammy Darko said that "if any politician dares us

(NACOB) and uses narcotics money for politics, that person will be sorry.

Whether you are an NDC or NPP or CPP or whatever, you will be sorry," is

timely.

Dr. Aning appeared to be confirming what Mr. Akrasi Sarpong said. He was

reported as saying "There is a long lasting relationship between narcotic

money and the funding of political party activities in Ghana."

Dr. Aning said “Narcotics, whether it is Marijuana, Cocaine, Heroin,

Ephedrine, Methamphetamine or [others] is beginning to pose both a political

and security threat to this country. We are now internationally known not

only as a traffic country or a transit country but as a country where the

impact of these narcotics are beginning to have a cumulative negative

impact.”

A narco-state is a clear nightmare. Apart from the direct devastations by

the drug on families, they come in with guns. Mexico is as dangerous as

Afghanistan, even though the war there is different. It is a war of drug

cartels. There is not a single Ghanaian who will not be negatively impacted

by a full-blown narco-state. That is why this is more than enough to deny

the NPP at the ballot *en **masse*. It behoves on each responsible citizen

to compel all political parties to tow the line.

First, it will drive away good business. This simply means more and more

mouths to feed and less and less food to put into those mouths. As our

population increases, job opportunities would be decreasing, only to be

replaced by criminality. Furthermore, this would also mean that Ghanaians

would no longer be able to travel freely. The few who manage to get visas

shall be subjected to some of the most humiliating searches, such as peeps

into the anus by Customs officials, at international airports, simply

because they are carrying Ghanaian passports! This is what happens to

citizens of countries which are designated as transit points for illicit

drugs. Who wants this to happen to our country?

And the threat is growing. According to Dr. Aning, "the trade is growing as

it has been discovered that between eight and fifteen percent of the

narcotics entering main land Europe come through Ghana." Clearly, something

correct needs to be done, and every peace-loving Ghanaian must support the

initiatives to get on top on the fight by drug barons to steal our

sovereignty and peace from us.

I was therefore extremely surprised that instead of lending the necessary

moral support and the boost that is needed to make Ghana clean, the Chairman

of the NPP is the only leader of a political party in Ghana not to take

kindly to the words of the NACOB capo. What even makes this extremely

strange and unnecessary was the fact that the NACOB boss was absolutely

non-partisan in his warning: he mentioned all the political parties:

"if any politician dares us (NACOB) and uses narcotics money for politics,

that person will be sorry. Whether you are an NDC or NPP or CPP or whatever,

you will be sorry!" He did not mention any goat. All he said was that "his

outfit has information that some politicians are heavily funded by drug

barons adding that NACOB will deal with any politician caught to be using

proceeds from the illicit trade notwithstanding the party that the person

belongs to."

Of course, he added that "as the 2012 general elections approaches, NACOB

will be very vigilant and monitor the situation carefully to bring to book

any culprit found."

Why should any one who has nothing to do with drugs have an issue with this?

Instead of welcoming and declaring his support, Jake Obetsebi Lamptey,

reacting to the comments by the NACOB Boss on the Citi Eyewitness News, on

Monday June 27, ordered Mr Akrasi Sarpong to "provide evidence to his claims

and avoid speaking loosely."

Mr. Obetsebi-Lamptey complained:

“This is why people who are put in positions like this should not speak

loosely, if things that you say, without providing any supporting evidence

has the capacity to taint a person or a group of persons then you should

avoid making certain comments at all."

This is in spite of the glaring fact that "no stolen goat has so far been

mentioned" A fact which normally should make all "goats" comfortable, seems

to irk some:

"If you really have any evidence that political parties are being financed

by illicit drug whether from barons or not from barons then come out with

evidence. But to come out to say generally that you are not going to allow

political parities to be funded by drug money then straight away you are

turning round to say that this is happening." Obetsebi-Lamptey is reported

to have stated.

Indeed, the information concerning the names of the goats that the chairman

of the NPP, Mr. Jake Obetsebi-Lamptey is publicly seeking from the NACOB

boss, is the kind of information that any drug-pusher would pay huge sums of

money to obtain: questions like, “what kind of leads do they have on me”? I

was therefore amused to read Obetsebi Lamptey asking the NACOB boss to name

politicians on the NACOB's list.

I was equally satisfied with the response from the NACOB boss to the NPP

Chairman's call for the name of suspected politicians to be released, see:

General News of Tuesday, 28 June 2011, NACOB boss refuses to name

politicians on narcotic money

list

:

"The Executive Secretary of the Narcotic Control Board, Yaw Akrasi Sarpong

has said he cannot be forced to disclose identities of suspected drug

dealers on his watch list.

Defending his reason to issue the warning, Mr Sarpong said there are various

ways to fight crime and the people who are involved need to know that they

are being watched so that they can stay away from it."

Which makes complete nonsense of Obetsebi-Lamptey's rantings:

“If it is happening and you are in charge to make sure that it doesn’t

happen then you should make sure that it doesn’t happen and not to generally

castigate people in that light”.

And more so, when cast against a background where other experts have even

been more categorical in the past:

"Some of these guys were my mates in school and they were not too

successful, and they've been in politics for less than 10 years," Dr. Aning

told the BBC in an interview on 28 October 08, "You don't make that kind of

money in 10 years."

He said he was talking about people "running for parliament, who are

ministers, wanting to run for president". This was in 2008.

"It's not only about politics or politicians, it's about the police service,

it's about customs, it's about immigration, it's about the judiciary, it's

about our traditional institutions," he said.

"What I'm saying is that the very fabric of Ghanaian society is under

threat."

"Ghana's politicians say they are determined to fight drug trafficking, but

many question whether the political will exists in a society where

corruption is a major problem," BBC West Africa correspondent Will Ross

reported in 2008, when the NPP was in power.

What Obetsebi-Lamptey's reaction tells me is that there is no longer even

such a determination in the leadership of the NPP, if any ever existed, and

Obetsebi-Lamptey's reaction must be seen in terms of the level of the

political will to fight the crime.

Mr Aning also said in the BBC story that "political rhetoric needed to be

followed by action, suggesting there should be more sniffer dogs and better

exchanges of intelligence."

From the hostile reaction of Jake to the very topic, we can not even talk

about a "political rhetoric" to rid Ghana of narcotics, let alone to "follow

it with action". It is simply no longer on the agenda of the NPP. What will

happen now, since even at the time they were only at the level of "political

rhetoric", they were actively assisting drug smugglers to evade the law? My

real fear is what is going to happen should these people return to power!

We should not too soon forget the fact that Addo Kufour, the president's

brother and then Minister of the Interior, run away from the then BBC's West

African correspondent, Mr. Will Ross, because he was not prepared to answer

questions about how he was fighting the drugs trade, after the arrest and

subsequent release without charge or trial of five women of the Executive

Committee of the Women's Wing of the Dzorwulu NPP were busted at the Kotoka

airport whilst attempting to board an airline bound to the United States

with large quantities of heroin.

This was the last straw that broke the camel's back, and Ghana's credibility

in the fight against narco-trafficking, under the NPP Administration, came

to its lowest point. It was a shame to read on

BBC:

"Ghana's interior ministry has so far declined to grant an interview on drug

trafficking"! Indeed, if Obetsebi-Lamptey had not asked the NACOB boss to

mention the goats, we would have missed the best part of the story. After

declaring that he is keeping the names closely to his chest, Mr. Akrasi

Sarpong further expressed disappointment in the manner in which the case

involving the missing parcels of cocaine was handled in the past.

“In the past the police did a beautiful work. That work that was done by the

police was not backed by the hierarchy of the police. It was done by

officers who were down the line. Look we know what happened,” he said.

Security analyst, Dr. Kwesi Aning

concurs:

"There is a long lasting relationship between narcotic money and the funding

of political party activities in Ghana."

Our reputation as a narco-state would have been firmly established had the

NPP won the 2008 Parliamentary and especially, the Presidential elections.

Barely after two years of coming into power of President Mills, the tides

changed. I was very relieved to read the General News of Thursday, 4

February 2010, U.S. Hails Ghana’s Track

Record,

The story read:

"The United States government has commented Ghana for the progress it has

made in the fight against drug trafficking, saying the gains are impressive.

Johnnie Carson, US Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs, at a

meeting with President Mills at the Castle, Osu yesterday said the

cooperation between Ghana and the US and other partners in the fight against

drug trafficking and other cross-border crimes was yielding impressive

results."

My reaction to the news on ghanaweb.com speaks for itself:

“Author: Nana Akyea Mensah, The Odikro.

Date: 2010-02-04 09:43:42

Comment to: BYE-BYE TO BUSH AND HIS NARCOTIC

FRIENDS

Hi NANA Ø !!.

One reason why I worked day and night to ensure the defeat of the NPP at the

last polls was the danger they posed in the development of a narco state

with all the attendant problems of violent crimes and the inconvenience of

having our private parts including anus carefully screened at all

international airports each time you travel overseas, all because of these

greedy bastards! We were quite close to it! It was such a pity to see Addo

Kufour, the president's brother and then Minister of the Interior, running

away from the BBC's West African correspondent Mr. Will Ross because he was

not prepared to answer questions about the arrest and subsequent release

without charge or trial of five women of the Executive Committee of the

Women's Wing of the Dzorwulu NPP were busted at the Kotoka airport whilst

attempting to board an airline bound to the United States with large

quantities of heroin. Rumours have it that it took the timely and personal

intervention of the President's wife, Madam Theresa Kufour to get these drug

barons off the hook! Oh Ghana! Even our First Lady became complicit in the

narcotics business!

This reports coming from the USA makes me heave a big sigh of relief! I am

happy I supported the NDC against the NPP! And it gives me so much pleasure

as this piece of news encourages me to do so again come 2012!

We shall not sit down and allow the illicit business of a greedy and

unconscionable few to put at risk a dignified flight through international

airports without curious anti-drug enforcement officials peeping through

your anus simply because you are carrying a Ghanaian passport!

Thank you very much President Mills! You are a President worthy of respect!

Have a nice day Nana O!!.”

The problem is not simply one of dry bones being mentioned in a proverb, and

old people feeling unease; it is also about how this unease is expressed.

Jake Obetsebi-Lamptey got the most nonsensical set of words ever to be

uttered by any politician in the NPP expressing such perfectly

understandable unease! And this “style” of leadership looks certain to

continue. A famous Roman general once said “I more fear a stupid ally than I

fear a clever enemy”. How right he was! With problems of cocaine abuse of

his own to deal with, and hanging like a dark cloud over the party's

flag-bearer's head, Akufo-Addo must be savouring the simplicity of the truth

of the Roman general's rather candid observation.

*Forward Ever! Backwards Never!!!*

*Cheers!*

--

Nana Akyea Mensah, The Odikro.

Blog: /nanaakyeamensah.blogspot.com/

Twitter: /twitter.com/TheOdikro