Ghana designated as "cocaine coast"

Unpublished.
Story: Albert K. Salia
THE use of Ghana in the illicit drug business has earned it the name “Cocaine Coast” in international circles, Mr K. B. Quantson, a former National Security Co-ordinator today revealed.
“The distressful shame was at one international conference on drugs where we (Ghana) earned the most shocking characterisation as the COCAINE COAST. We used to be known as the Gold Coast. The contradiction between GOLD and COCAINE in every aspect and dimension, should be a reprehensible national burden on our heads,” he lamented.
Mr Quantson was speaking at a luncheon organised by the Ghana chapter of the West African Business Association in Accra today.
He said Ghana had arrived at that damning destination through the lack of demonstrable lack of political will, a flawed appreciation of the security implications of drugs, an ineffective security enforcement and judicial systems which had been thoroughly penetrated, corrupted and manipulated by the criminal gangs operating the drug cabal.
He said a bogus oversight mechanism that failed to hold offending enforcement institutions accountable, an unfriendly economic atmosphere, the decay of moral fibre of society, which made wealth, no matter its source, the determinant of success and social status, society regarding drug dealing as normal lucrative business regardless of the socio-politico-economic consequences among others as some of the reasons for Ghana’s present woes.
Mr Quantson, who is also a former Executive Secretary of the Narcotics Control Board, said the setting up of a bi-partisan parliamentary committee to take a comprehensive look at the drug problem to provide an informed and objective basis upon which to tackle the drug problem was crucial.
He said the Georgina Wood Committee’s report was not published for the public to appreciate the magnitude of the problem neither was that of the Kojo Armah Committee published.
“Another committee established by the government to examine the Kojo Armah’s Committee Report never even sat. There must be intractable problems that the public have a right to know,” he said.
Mr Quantson said there must also be policy re-orientation that appreciated drug dealing as a national security problem that would enable appropriate resources to be made available.
He said a ruthless enforcement and judicial regime that handled drug offences efficiently and expeditiously, coupled with a continuous sensitisation to rid the system of corrupt, compromised or undesirable elements was also required to keep Ghana on course to dealing with the drug menace.
He said a swift confiscation of assets of convicted drug dealers acquired through drug dealing was crucial, stressing that “depriving criminals of the proceeds of their criminality is an effective way of fighting drug trafficking”.
Mr Quantson also called for a nationally sustained sensitisation educational programme to involved the entire nation on the war on drugs.
He said terrible scourge of drugs should be appreciated in all its total seriousness because it undermined the entire democratic process bringing good governance, probity and accountability to naught.
“It corrupts the nation physically, morally and spiritually. It distorts and subverts the economy. It shames our national identity and tarnishes our national interest. It is a huge threat to our national security,” he stated.