If there is any challenge the country is facing today, it is the scourge of drugs. The trafficking of hard or narcotic drugs has become the greatest challenge the security apparatus is grappling with. Because of the huge financial benefit that it brings and the network that normally builds among players of the drug game it is one of the most difficult issues to deal with. The Police would be the first to admit that it is both tempting and dangerous to deal with crimes related to drugs. Particularly in a country like Ghana where salaries are not the best that one can wish for.
The arrest of Joojo Mills Robertson by the Police last Sunday brought to the fore some of the challenges that personnel of the security agencies face in the course of their duties. The operation was led by no less a person than the Second-In-Command of the Regional MTTU, ASP Asare Mensah and even that did not stop the suspect from offering to pay a whooping US$5000 to silence them so that he could send his goods to his destination. It is here that one sees the challenge.
Fancy a Police Officer whose salary hovers between one and two million cedis a month being offered an equivalent of GHC50 million practically for doing no manual work. He or she just has to look the other way and pretend not to have seen anything. This was the challenge ASP Mensah and his small group of personnel who were at the Ataabadze barrier faced when they came face-to-face with the drug dealer. The nation can be proud of these men who choose the love for country over the love for money and sought the public good rather than their personal aggrandizements.
Their vigilance and patriotism has at least helped to reduce the amount of drugs that would have been on the market for the consumption and subsequent destruction of the youth in particular who are ignorantly learning to use them. The Cocaine burst also reveals the weaknesses in some of the directives that are issued to personnel of the security agencies from time to time. For example, when the Police were stopped from going on road checks, many were those who jubilated because of the allegation that they use the opportunity for untoward things. But they also forgot that while the drivers and other road users jubilated for the removal of the police on the road, drug dealers and other deviants in the society who saw the presence of the Police as a threat to their businesses also jubilated.
It came out over the weekend that the Regional Police Commander, Rose Bio Atinga, assembled top personnel of the Service and the MTTU in particular and asked them to embark on rigorous checks on vehicles because of hints she got from Accra on nefarious activities by some private car users. Just a day after the meeting, this huge haul of Cocaine was made. The question now is should the Police continue to be off the roads while the Joojo Mills Robertsons have their way and serve as a threat to society or they should be brought back irrespective of sub-regional protocols and alleged petty bribery? This is a question that the whole nation should answer. The image of the country as far as drug trafficking is concerned is not the best in the eyes of the international community.
The new Interior Minister, Dr. Kwame Addo Kufuor, has not hidden this fact. The arrest of important personalities in relation to drugs has not done our image any good. The unfortunate incidents within the Police Service whereby seized Cocaine either gets missing or exchanged with other substances has further compounded the issue on our determination to deal with the drug menace. But now the bottom line is how do we together ensure that drugs do not become synonymous with the name Ghana.
One would be bold to say that until the security agencies and agents behave like ASP Asare Mensah and his men behaved, the fight against drugs would be a tough one. It seems that foreign influence in the drug trade is becoming established. This is because almost all the busted cocaine scandals have some kind of association with foreign elements. Is it not rife now for Ghana to take a second look at its proverbial unfetted hospitality and acted strict in relation to its migration policy? Now, Joojo Mills Robertson has been busted.
Let’s see what would happen to him and his accomplices. Let’s also see how the nation intensifies its efforts in checking the drug menace. If the drugs were transported from Bogoso as claimed by Mr. Joojo Robertson, then what happened at the other check points before it got to Ataabadze. Apparently the posh car was not searched because of respect for such cars.
