By Issah Olegor
The Minority in Parliament has launched a blistering attack on the Mahama-led NDC government over a series of major international narcotics seizures linked to Ghana, demanding an independent parliamentary investigation into what it describes as a disturbing pattern of drug trafficking through the country borders.
According to the Minority, the latest incident, involving nearly 3.9 metric tonnes of cocaine seized by French customs authorities at the port of Dunkirk, has raised fresh and serious questions about the security of the ports and the effectiveness of state institutions responsible for preventing the country from being used as a transit point for international drug cartels.
The cocaine, reportedly valued at more than US$260 million, was discovered concealed in a container carrying plastic waste that had departed from Ghana.
The Minority through a statement signed by Rev John Ntim Fordjour, Ranking Member on Defence and Interior Committee says the incident, reported by Reuters on September 10, 2026, cannot be treated as an isolated case given a series of other high-profile narcotics seizures allegedly connected to Ghana over the past two years.
The latest seizure follows an earlier operation by Australian authorities on June 18, 2026, in which 320 kilogrammes of methamphetamine, reportedly worth about US$261 million, was intercepted concealed in a consignment of charcoal traced to Ghana.
For the Minority, the two seizures represent only the latest chapters in what it considers an increasingly troubling pattern.
The Caucus has also revived questions surrounding the MV Sankofa affair of July 2025, involving a vessel which, according to the Minority, was found sailing under a forged flag and was liable for a fine of almost GH¢12 million.
The Minority alleges that the vessel was subsequently released by the Ghana Maritime Authority after payment of only a fraction of the potential fine, before being arrested days later in Senegal while allegedly carrying narcotics.
The Caucus is demanding a full explanation of the circumstances surrounding the vessel’s release, including who authorised the reduction in the fine and why the vessel was allowed to leave Ghana without what the Minority considers adequate inspection.
The Minority has further pointed to a March 2025 incident at Kotoka International Airport involving an aircraft from Gran Canaria that was allegedly carrying narcotics and undeclared United States currency.
Taken together, the Minority estimates that high-profile drug seizures linked to Ghana during the period under review amount to more than US$1 billion.
However, the Caucus has gone further by invoking a commonly cited law-enforcement assumption that only a fraction of illicit drug consignments are intercepted.
It says that if the benchmark of roughly one interception for every nine consignments that evade detection were applied to the confirmed seizures, the potential value of narcotics successfully trafficked through Ghana could theoretically be several times higher.
The Minority has placed the possible figure at around US$9 billion, but has stressed that this is not a certified estimate and should instead be viewed as an illustration of the potential scale of the problem.
It is therefore demanding that the government commission an independent and transparent assessment to establish the actual extent to which Ghanaian ports, airports, territorial waters and other entry points may have been exploited by international narcotics networks.
The Minority’s attack also extends to the response of state institutions. It has accused Ghanaian authorities of failing to provide sufficient public explanations following the international seizures.
The Caucus says port authorities have not publicly accounted for the Dunkirk cocaine seizure, while it has also accused the Narcotics Control Commission of being conspicuously quiet on the matter. The Ghana Maritime Authority, it argues, is yet to provide a satisfactory explanation of the circumstances surrounding the MV Sankofa’s release.
The controversy has also brought a new Ghana-Colombia port agreement into the spotlight.
The Minority is demanding full disclosure of the direct port agreement between Ghana and Colombia announced by Foreign Affairs Minister Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa in March 2026.
The Caucus says it has no objection to legitimate trade and diplomatic cooperation between Ghana and Colombia.
However, it argues that Colombia’s position as a major cocaine-producing country makes it necessary for the government to demonstrate that comprehensive security vetting, cargo-screening mechanisms and anti-trafficking safeguards were incorporated into the arrangement.
The Minority wants the government to publish the due diligence and security risk assessment, if any, conducted before the agreement was concluded.
According to the Caucus, the timing of the agreement deserves particular scrutiny because it coincides with a period in which Ghana has repeatedly been linked to major international narcotics interceptions.
The Minority has consequently called for a full-scale and independent parliamentary inquiry into possible complicity, negligence or failures of oversight involving institutions responsible for Ghana’s national security and border protection.
The institutions named include the Ministry of the Interior, Ministry of Transport, Narcotics Control Commission leadership, Ghana Ports and Harbours Authority, Ghana Immigration Service and the Bureau of National Investigations.
The Caucus is also demanding a comprehensive account from the responsible Ministers on measures being implemented to secure Ghana’s ports, airports and territorial waters against exploitation by international drug-trafficking organisations.
The Minority’s position is that the repeated international seizures should trigger more than official statements or isolated investigations, arguing that the frequency and scale of the incidents require a coordinated national response.
