Non-Enforcement of Laws Led To "Ametefehgate Cocaine Scandal"

Is it any wonder that Ghana is today compelled to disgracefully deal with the internationally derisive Ametefehgate cocaine scandal? In any country where laws are not respected and applied as they should, such incidents as cocaine peddling, armed robbery and committal of other crimes are common occurrences.

In Ghana, some people in government and other positions of responsibility always feel to be law unto themselves and hence are always above the law. If the application of existing laws was enforced as they should, there would never have been any chance for Nayele Ametefeh, alias Ruby Adu Gyamfi, to smuggle cocaine through the “Very Very Important Person” (VVIP) section of the Kotoka International airport to London.

She was without a Diplomatic passport as initially erroneously alleged. This has been confirmed by the no-nonsense British High Commissioner in Ghana – Jon Benjamin Rock. How and why was she then allowed to use the VVIP Lounge of Kotoka Airport to courier cocaine to London? Who facilitated her passage through that section of the airport knowing she was not officially known as a very important person in the sense of usage of the VVIP Lounge?

Somebody of a high standing in Ghana must have aided her, or is in business alliance of some sort with her. Could the person be in government, or is somehow affiliated with the government and her cronies?

The way the government and her appointees had gone about Ametefeh's case raises eyebrows or suspicion? Why were they rushing to consult with her as soon as her arrest was announced? What is so special about this cocaine courier that is different from other Ghanaians who have suffered similar arrests abroad but were never visited by the Ghana High Commissioners?

Until laws are enforced by the lazy, corrupt and currently unprofessional judiciary and the law enforcement agents, there will always be further occurrences of this unfortunate Ametefehgate cocaine scandal.

Unless we stop succumbing to the most deplorable “order from above” nonsense as has become the order of the day in Ghana, we risk the visitation of gargantuan cocaine bust sooner or later. Some people have the shameless audacity to declare openly that no law or nobody in Ghana can stop them from doing what they want doing even if it contravenes the law and natural justice.

Sooner, all Ghanaians will lose their respect abroad should we continue to sit with the situation where the supposedly strong people abuse their powers and the laws of the land with impunity. Sooner, all Ghanaian diplomatic passport holders with their kings and chiefs may lose the related protocols. They will be subjected to ordinary person's search procedures on arrival at overseas airports.

The ball is now rolling and bouncing in the court of our law enforcement agencies. Many a Ghanaian smells rat in this Ametefeh's case. There could surely have been a powerful hand from above involved; concluding from the panicky way the government went about it.

This is my candid opinion that no-one can take away from me. Opinions are like noses, each person has one. What a bitter lesson to all Ghanaians!

Rockson Adofo