New Patriotic Party (NPP) member Kwasi Kwarteng says the repeated seizure of cocaine linked to Ghana in other countries appears to point to organised crime, and has criticised the government for failing to explain how it intends to respond.
Speaking on TV3’s Key Points on Saturday, November 7, Mr Kwarteng said the government’s position was “problematic”, although he stopped short of accusing it of involvement.
“What we are seeing looks like organised crime. We expect the government to tell us what it intends doing about these drug seizures linked to Ghana,” he said.
“The scanners are able to identify cans, but cannot identify the cocaine; it is surprising. The government may not be complicit, but the posturing of the government is problematic.”
The NPP has called for the immediate dismissal of the heads of the Narcotics Control Commission (NACOC), Ghana Airports Company Limited (GACL), Ghana Ports and Harbours Authority (GPHA) and National Security.
The opposition says repeated cocaine interceptions at international destinations raise serious questions about the effectiveness of Ghana’s security and anti-narcotics agencies.
At a press conference at the NPP Headquarters in Accra on Wednesday, 4 November, the party’s Second National Vice Chairman, Henry Nana Boakye, popularly known as Nana B, said Ghana was becoming an international trafficking corridor.
“We have invited you here a second time on the same subject because the subject has refused to go away. Six weeks ago, we warned that Ghana was fast becoming a corridor for cocaine. Last Saturday, the world received fresh proof, this time not from a seaport in Europe, but from the Accra International Airport,” he said.
Nana B said at least 14 major cocaine and drug seizures had been recorded between March 2025 and October 2026. Seven took place in Ghana and involved approximately 3.6 tonnes of drugs, while more than 12 tonnes of cocaine traced to Ghana had been seized overseas.
He estimated the street value of the cocaine intercepted abroad at between US$1.3 billion and US$1.7 billion.
The cases cited included nearly 4,500kg concealed in a timber consignment from Ghana and seized in Amsterdam in June 2025; 2,829kg hidden in cassava flour shipped from Tema and intercepted at Antwerp in November 2025; and a further 1,158kg seized at the same Belgian port in December 2025.
French authorities intercepted approximately 3.9 tonnes concealed in a container declared as plastic waste at Dunkirk in September 2026. In Australia, police seized 320kg of illicit drugs hidden in charcoal from Ghana in April 2026, with an estimated value of US$210 million.
“This is not a run of bad luck. It is a pattern. And a trade of this scale… does not survive without protection from those who are supposed to stop it,” Nana B said.
The NPP has also challenged NACOC’s account of the seizure at Rafic Hariri International Airport in Beirut, Lebanon, which the commission described as a controlled delivery.
Lebanese Customs, working with General Security, arrested a Syrian national who had travelled from Accra on Middle East Airlines flight MEA 576 carrying 40 packages of cocaine weighing 46.7kg.
The party questioned why the Lebanese account did not refer to NACOC, and demanded the names of people arrested in Ghana. It also sought answers to allegations that the courier paid bribes to airport officials.
“An arrest without a name is not an arrest. It is a press release,” Nana B said.
The NPP highlighted the difference between the 46.7kg reported by Lebanese authorities on October 31 and the approximately 40kg cited by NACOC. It also referred to a December 2025 seizure in Lebanon involving about 70kg of cocaine from Ghana concealed in air freight declared as coconut oil.
The opposition wants answers about Musah Attah, known as “Kromo”, who has been charged over the Dunkirk shipment. It questioned how he allegedly entered the close security cordon around President John Dramani Mahama and Vice President Professor Jane Naana Opoku-Agyemang, citing photographs said to show him within the presidential security circle.
The party is demanding the publication of all diplomatic and service passports issued since January 2025, and the suspension of the direct Tema-Cartagena shipping arrangement agreed in March 2026 until a full security review is completed.
“Colombia… is the world’s largest source of cocaine, and Cartagena is a known trafficking port,” Nana B said.
The NPP also criticised the government for not publishing a security roadmap after an emergency meeting chaired by President Mahama on September 17. It said an inter-agency task force had been given two weeks to produce measures, but the October 1 deadline passed without the roadmap being released.
The party is calling for a bipartisan parliamentary inquiry with public hearings into all Ghana-linked cocaine seizures since January 2025. It wants the roadmap published within seven days, a joint statement with Lebanese authorities confirming NACOC’s controlled-delivery account, the names of those arrested over the Beirut seizure, and the arrest and prosecution of officials allegedly involved in bribery at Accra International Airport.
It is also seeking an update on Musah Attah’s prosecution, an explanation of his alleged access to presidential security, the removal of the heads of NACOC, GACL, GPHA and National Security, and the suspension of the Tema-Cartagena arrangement.
Nana B accused President Mahama of failing to show sufficient commitment to tackling the issue.
“President Mahama is pampering activities related to cocaine and other illicit drugs. Inaction on this scale is not incompetence. It is complicity,” he said.
“The President promised Ghanaians a 24-hour economy. He did not promise a 24-hour cocaine corridor.”
