Assin South MP and Ranking Member on Parliament’s Foreign Affairs Committee, Rev. John Ntim Fordjour, has rejected suggestions that the previous Akufo-Addo government removed the Narcotics Control Commission (NACOC) from inspection duties at the ports.
Speaking on Adom FM’s Dwaso Nsem, Mr Fordjour described the claim as false and dismissed it as propaganda.
“It is never true that the erstwhile NPP government removed NACOC from post inspections. It is mere propaganda that should be disregarded,” he said.
He argued that importers and exporters who have used the ports for the past 20 years can confirm that NACOC has continued to inspect containers.
According to the MP, the former government streamlined port inspections to reduce delays and demurrage costs. He explained that about 16 institutions previously inspected goods one after the other, creating long delays and opening the door to corruption.
“Formally, we had about 16 institutions inspecting goods at the port one by one, and that delay resulted in demurrage, which was a corruption avenue because if you don’t pay, your container will not be inspected,” he stated.
He said the decision was taken to allow three institutions, the Food and Drugs Authority (FDA), Customs, and the Ghana Standards Authority, to carry out compulsory inspections. NACOC, he noted, operates as an intelligence body rather than part of the standing inspection team.
“By the time the container arrives, they would have all information and relay it to the other institutions if they find anything suspicious,” Mr Fordjour explained.
He questioned the logic of the claim, asking how Ghana could have avoided major cocaine seizures and a high ranking in trafficking reports if NACOC had been removed from the ports.
He added that heightened surveillance in recent times is now exposing the scale of the problem.
Also read:
