Second Deputy Minority Whip and Member of Parliament for Weija-Gbawe, Jerry Ahmed Shaib, has questioned the credibility of an investigation by the Narcotics Control Commission (NACOC) and other agencies under the Executive into recent cocaine-related cases.
According to the MP, NACOC cannot be trusted to independently investigate the matter, citing recent comments by its Deputy Director-General, Alexander Twum-Barimah.
Jerry Ahmed said Twum-Barimah’s claim that the withdrawal of NACOC from inspection at the ports under the previous NPP administration contributed to increased cocaine smuggling raised questions about the Commission’s ability to independently investigate the cases.
“You cannot trust anybody. A single unit or a political party or even the government on its own suo moto to come and say that we have done this, so take it hook, line and sinker,” he said on TV3’s Hot Issues on Sunday, September 27.
Jerry Ahmed was particularly critical of comments by Twum-Barimah during an earlier interview on Hot Issues, in which he reportedly attributed recent cocaine smuggling cases to a 2018 directive by the then Vice President for NACOC to be withdrawn from the ports.
He questioned why an institution making such assertions should also be relied upon to investigate the matter.
“…when I watched you interview this NACOC person who had come to already prejudice and come to say this thing (cocaine busts) happened because sometime in 2018, the then Vice President directed that NACOC should be withdrawn from the ports.
“And you are asking me to sit here and believe that this same person should be a body that is investigating a situation like this?” he questioned.
Asked whether he trusted the Executive’s investigation into the matter, the Weija-Gbawe MP responded emphatically: “Not at all and without doubt.”
He said his position was based on what he described as a clear example of why investigations into the allegations should not be left solely in the hands of an institution that may have a direct connection to issues under scrutiny.
For him, a parliamentary bipartisan probe, which the Minority has called for, would provide a more appropriate mechanism for investigating the matter. He also raised concerns that some NACOC officers could already be compromised and therefore should not be involved in the investigation.
“Parliament comes in with a bipartisan approach and we have a constitutional mandate to let Ghanaians know that these are matters we are interested in and at the end of the day, we want to bring in important structures to ensure that these things don’t happen again.”
By:Rachael Djabakie