Nana Akuffo Addo To Create A Drug Czar?

Chris Gyamfi Boateng, Philadelphia, USA

So Nana Akuffo Addo, the temperamental pint-size NPP candidate wants Ghanaians to view him as a crusader against cocaine dealing and trafficking.


Oh boy! What new insights and new initiatives we dream up, only when we find ourselves in opposition?


Is this a sign of desperation, or a simply a disingenuous Addo saying things that Ghanaians want to hear? What is it? Can this man be trusted on anything he says?


Are Ghanaians not right to ask Nana K. Akuffo Addo the following questions?


1. Akuffo Addo was a leading member of NPP and practically the presidential candidate when tons of cocaine got missing from the police headquarters. Did Nana Akuffo Addo make any comments on such a glaring negligence, if not an act of criminal conspiracy?

2. Benjilo was a hardened drug dealer in the 1990s. That criminal was jailed and his drug-funded property in Accra confiscated. During the 8 years of NPP rule, part of which Nana Addo served as Attorney-General, Benjilo's property was deconfiscated. Did Akuffo Addo know that drug-dealing was a crime when he championed the deconfiscation of Benjilo's property?


3. Why did Akufo-Addo, as Attorney General, oversee the de-confiscation of frozen assets of Raymond Amankwah, a world reputed Cocaine Baron? And why was Richard Amankwah roaming the world with Ghana's diplomatic passport in his backpocket?


4. Did he not know that by literally presiding over that act, a terrible example was set and cocaine barons all over the globe were sent a signal that the new government of Ghana had no problem with the trafficking of narcotic drugs?


5. Did the fact that Raymond Amankwah was a relative of Akufo-Addo in anyway influence that decision?


7. Was Raymond Amankwah until his arrest in Brazil, not associated with Akufo-Addo's 2008 campaign?

8. Was Akufo-Addo not the Attorney General in the year 2001, when the state prosecution of Frank Benneh was suddenly discontinued?


9. Why did he so mysteriously stop a case that NDC's Deputy Attorney General, Martin Amidu prosecuted so relentlessly until NPP took over the reins of office?


10. Does Akufo-Addo know that the discontinuation of that famous case was another strong signal of his own lack of political commitment to fight the drug menace and the indication of the weakness of NPP's resolve to deal with the canker?


11. What about the three NPP Dzorwulu branch executives who were busted with narcotics at Kotoka in February 2002 when Akufo-Addo was AG?


12. Is it not interesting that under his tenure as AG, all those three arrested NPP drug queens just vanished into thin air? Their dockets also just disappeared like magic?

13. What did Nana Addo do about that case to send a strong and clear message to Ghana and the world that his government was dead set to punish anyone, regardless of proximity to the ruling class, who dares engage in the dangerous narcotic trafficking?


14. Was Akufo-Addo not the parliamentarian who was pushing hard for a law (described by Ghanaians as Amoateng Bill) to be passed that will essentially allow Ghanaian drug offenders, languishing in Thai jails among others to be sent back to Ghana to complete their term?


15. Does Nana Akufo-Addo still believe in the Amoateng Bill? Does he think that it will be useful to bring back to Ghana, top NPP drug financiers like Eric Amoateng and Raymond Amankwah?


16. Why does Nana Addo think that the accusation of drug addiction has never been leveled against any other leader or potential leader of his party, (Busia, Victor Owusu, Adu Boahen, J.A. Kufuor, Alan Kyeremateng) but only him? Is it just a coincidence?


17. Why has it been so difficult for him to personally respond to the accusation that he was a drug user, himself?

18. Is Nana Addo surprised that given the catalogue of serious actions and inactions on his part, Ghanaians think that he is not qualified to be leading a nation that wants to rid itself of organized crime, violent crime and crime of all shades and hues?


What matters to Ghanaians is not the blabbering out of nonsensical initiatives about the creation of a drug czar at the cabinet level. it is the moral attribute of the personality enunciating the policy.


Can Ghanaians trust Nana Akuffo Addo to be a crusader against cocaine and heroin dealing?


That's the question!