NPP AND “MY GOVERNMENT” ARE LINKED TO THEIR NPP MP DRUG PEDDLER

The New Patriotic Party (NPP) and the Kufuor government (“my government”) cannot cease to amaze Ghanaians. This is a party and a government that take credit for projects like the Tetteh Quarshie and Ashiaman Interchanges when every Ghanaian knows these are NDC projects.

They even lied about it that the Ashiaman Interchange was one of the products of President Kufuor's trips to France, when in truth, the idea, the design and the loan for both projects were all procured by the NDC, before the NPP came to power.

In fact, the loans for both projects were part of the ¢41trillion debt that the NPP would have the world believe the NDC had left for the NPP to pay. Everybody knows the level of political leverage the NPP obtained with that propaganda.

One would have thought that like the presidential jet, the Kufuor government would not even touch those loans, but return them. But thanks to The Enquirer Newspaper, we now know that they have even received kickbacks from these projects.

This is a party and a government that want to take credit even for the Black Stars qualification to the World Cup, when it fact, the feat was achieved by a team made up of sympathisers of all political parties, a youthful team nurtured during NDC era and supported through prayers and contributions of all Ghanaians.

Oh Ghana, how have thou fled to power-drunk, greedy and corrupt politicians whose main business is not good governance but drugs.

This, I believe must be going through the sad hearts of our departed leaders, and even our living past leaders. No wonder J.J. Rawlings booms every now and then. How can he sleep with both eyes closed for the country he thrice laid down his life for?

Under the NPP administration, in “my government,” Ghana for the first time has become a haven for cocaine, heroin and other hard substances. Drug business has become the stock in trade for our leaders.

So much so that by the time a plane from Ghana lands in USA and European countries, even if it is carrying our President, sniffing dogs are put on high alert. Ask the Speaker of Parliament and some of our Members of Parliament who have travelled abroad lately and they will tell you some of the horrifying experiences they have had to go through.

This is all because the feeling around the world is that the NPP government has turned Ghana into a free for all country for the drug industry.

And dear reader, this is not a mere perception. It is a stark reality. Recently, when our President was opening the NPP Accra Regional Party Headquarters, he failed to disassociate himself, “my government” and his party from the NPP Member of Parliament drug baron currently languishing in US jail for exporting $6 million worth of heroin to the US.

Indeed, what the President said did not only amount to shifting the blame, but he gave protection and tacit support to the NPP Member of Parliament drug baron.

Hear the President, “as for that NPP Member of Parliament, he is an individual.” “As for this one”, referring to Rojo Mettle Nunoo of the NDC who had consulted for a company of one of the suspected drug dealers in an unrelated transaction, “it is a party matter', repeat, “it is a party matter!'

President Kufuor appeared to be on such a high that he characteristically switched to his usual “Twi-brofo”: “Rojo must explain it to the bottom.”

Yes, the NPP Member of Parliament who is actually in jail for exporting drugs and caught on camera inspecting his booty worth $6 million is just an individual. He has nothing to explain. His case is not a party matter.

Yes, here was a President with an opportunity to shift the blame unto another party. No, neither “my government” nor the NPP had done anything wrong. So there was no need for the President to take action. And this is how “my government” has run the country since 2001, and this is how the drug business and related crime has thrived, making Ghana the number one drug transit point.

For how on earth would two Venezuelan nationals bring into the country cocaine worth more than our economy can absorb? The answer screams at you: “my government” had made Ghana a fertile place for drug business.

Please consider these facts: cocaine and heroin are not manufactured in Ghana. Certainly the 136.4 pounds (62 kg) of heroin that the NPP MP shipped to the USA via Britain was imported from somewhere into the country. So none of the numerous security agencies nor the Narcotics Control Board then headed by another NPP MP and then Deputy Minister of Interior detected the drugs coming in or leaving our ports!

Even more disturbing is the fact that a report from the Chairman of the Narcotics Control Board himself says that ninety per cent (90%) of all foreigners arrested in this country for peddling drugs have absconded and jumped bail. And this is all happening under “my government”. And it is acceptable to them.

When one considers these admissions and revelations vis-à-vis President Kufuor's “explanation” of his 'Zero tolerance for corruption” in his famous waa waa speech refusal to even investigate newspaper reports of corruption, his instruction to Ghanaians to keep their perception of corruption in their heads, his refusal to publicly discipline members of “my government” for fear of destroying his government, his refusal to disassociate himself and “my government' from Dr. Richard Anane, I.C. Quaye, Obetsebi Lamptey, Osafo Maafo and Edumadze, his refusal to prosecute Moctar Bamba, the upsurge in armed robbery, and one comes to his recent effusions and tantrums about Rojo, there is one and only one conclusion: “my government” tolerates an atmosphere conducive to criminal activity, especially drug trafficking, and benefits from it! But to President Kufuor, perception does not count. Indeed, the perception now is that Ghana is a safe haven for drug transit.

With particular reference to the heroin NPP MP, statements from the immediate past NPP National Chairman himself show that the party knew or should have known that the MP was a drug dealer. But the NPP passed him to stand on its ticket.

We are told that his application was withheld because “he (the NPP MP) sounded suspicious about the job he does.” (See Daily Guide, November 22, 2005 page 3.)

Notwithstanding this knowledge, the NPP went ahead and approved the MP's candidacy on the party's ticket “after the intervention of traditional rulers from the constituency.”

It is also known that there was a strong opposition even within the NPP to stop his candidature because he was a “drug dealer” who “wanted to go to Parliament to acquire a diplomatic passport for his drug trade.”

According to the Daily Guide article, this assertion by the MP's opponents appeared to hold ground. But he was supported by officialdom. Indeed so impressed by the MP of his support from officialdom for his narcotic business that according to the then Deputy Minister of Interior and Chairman of the Narcotics Control Board, the MP audaciously demanded diplomatic immunity when he was nabbed.

As if this was not enough, The Dispatch newspaper on 22nd November 2005 carried on its front page “Drug” MP was BUSTED FOR VISA FRAUD IN 2001 BUT…”

According to The Dispatch story, one influential person in the NPP was uneasy about the way this drug baron NPP MP (then candidate) had so much cash on hand that he felt that he (the MP) “was not clean”.

The Dispatch story goes on to say that that NPP MP was busted for visa fraud at the Canadian High Commission in 2001. This, of course, was after all the revelations about his drug dealings. However, the Dispatch reports, “the newly sworn in NPP government killed the case.”

Against this background, how can the NPP and/or the Kufuor government disassociate itself from this MP? They have created the fertile ground, planted the seed, watered, nursed and protected it. Now that is has germinated and flourishing and bearing fruits, how can they disassociate themselves from it? Did the NPP MP act alone? Did he never receive any support or protection from officialdom?

How come with all the information, protestations, reports and suspicions about this man to the NPP, he was never investigated, and succeeded in shipping a whopping $6 million worth of heroin through our ports to the US through Britain?

How come the security agencies were able to arrest the two Venezuelan nationals at East Legon on November 26, 2005 and not this NPP MP?

NPP and the Kufuor government can never deny their contribution to the NPP MP and to the drug trade. The MP was not only a product of the NPP and the Kufuor government, but he also operated with their tacit support and protection. We are yet to find out exactly how much money he doled out to the NPP.

We hold “my government” and the NPP responsible for the sinking image of Ghana through cocaine dealing.

Dear President, we are told that when you and/or your son as you would have us believe bought Hotel waa waa for $3.5 million, another $6 million was needed to complete it. We see that it is almost completed, perhaps to be open soon enough for the AU summit scheduled for Ghana in July.

May we ask, when and from where did you and/or your son get the money to complete the hotel? From cocaine or from kickbacks or both? Corruption galore?