Litany Of Contradictions

Akrasi Sarpong

So many government players have jumped into the fray of the cocaine saga and they are not making the story any clearer with their litany of contradictions.

The efforts, albeit useless in output, are intended to deflect the reality of the scandal, especially its scathing effects on the image of government.

The idea is to among others save the integrity of state agencies whose failure has contributed to the successful export of the stuff from our shores.

It is laughable and insulting to Ghanaians the claim by the Narcotics Control Board that it collaborated with the British authorities to get Ruby arrested. We refuse to be convinced by this claim and wonder why Akrasi Sarpong would find such a claim worth disseminating as an effective antidote to the challenge in which government is embroiled.

Are we to take it that the narcotic control board closes its eyes and allows cocaine to leave the airport so it can call its counterparts in the destination of the drugs for action? It sounds as puerile as it is foolish.

So how did the stuff come into the country without being detected? Did the narcotics board allow the import on purpose?

The absence of coordination by the many propagandists who are busy managing the scandal has led to palpable goofs.

While one government official claims the lady traveled on a country's passport, another varies the detail in a manner which leaves those following the story more confused than before listening to the narrations.

That is to be expected from a camp befuddled by an unexpected moral emergency. The many questions triggered by the exposition are still unanswered as more crop up in the light of the interventions by the High Commissioner to Britain, Victor Smith and young deputy ministers, among others.

What informed the visit to the suspect by the Ghana High Commissioner to Britain? And as we have learnt, some top-ranking government officials from Ghana have done same.

The visit has compelled observers of the nasty development to ask whether government is not seeking to prevent Ruby, the lady at the centre of the purported illicit drug trade, from singing too loudly and in the event make embarrassing references to top shots in the political establishment when she appears in court.

Is it a norm for our envoys to visit cocaine peddling suspects as they are held in custody awaiting court appearance? How many other suspects have been so visited by our envoys? If this is the first time that this is happening, the lady should have a political clout in Ghana.

Dining with the movers and shakers of society attracts visits by representatives of heads of state, even under telling circumstances. Perhaps that is why the embattled Ruby is hosting such important political office holders.

If only we could get the contents of the conversation between the envoy and the detained suspect, we would be primed to probe this intriguing subject further.

We are still unable to fathom how so much cocaine could elude detection at the Kotoka International Airport, even after the screening procedures.

See why we think the lady is well connected and depended upon such connections to succeed? It would be interesting to find out how many trips the lady has so far made in her cocaine peddling career. Is this the tip of the iceberg of a more complex story? Time will tell.