Prez subjects himself to search at Airport

Page 24: Daily Graphic, May 7, 2009.
Story: Albert K. Salia
THE President, Prof. John Evans Atta Mills, last Tuesday subjected himself to searches by officials of the Narcotics Control Board (NACOB) at the Kotoka International Airport, and asked them to go about their duty without fear or favour.
“I want you to do it to everybody,” he told NACOB officials who were there with officials of Operation Westbridge to carry out their work.
President Atta Mills stunned his accompanying members of his delegation, including his wife, Naadu, that their luggage should also be searched.
The action of President Atta Mills, who was on his way to the United Kingdom, is said to have been commended by the European Union (EU) Delegation to Ghana who saw it as a morale booster to the NACOB officials to do their work with confidence and also demonstrated the President’s commitment to fighting the drug menace.
On encountering the officials of NACOB, President Atta Mills asked them what they usually did at the airport and after he was briefed, he asked them to search him and all other officials accompanying him.
He said he wanted the Very Very Important Persons (VVIP) Lounge to be demystified so that people did not use it to commit crime.
President Atta Mills said the VVIP area should not be seen as a no-go area for operatives of security agencies, particularly the NACOB.
He gave the assurance that the government would help procure additional scanners for the NACOB to make their presence really felt at the airport and other points of entry, especially the Tema port and Aflao and Elubo borders.
He urged the NACOB officials to continue their good work and not allow anyone to compromise them.
The Deputy British High Commissioner in Accra, Mr Matthew Johnson, told the Daily Graphic yesterday that the action of President Atta Mills had been well received by the international community in Ghana.
He said he saw the action of the President as “an act that will motivate the personnel and reassure them that the President is behind them”.
Mr Johnson said it sent a clear message that President Atta Mills was committed to fighting the drug menace and that his government would not tolerate the drug business in Ghana.