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Ghana partners UN to rid sub-region of
narcotics trade
Accra, June 16, Ghanadot/GNA - Ghana is partnering the
United Nations to counter
the menace of drug trafficking rocking the country and the
West African sub-region.
To this end, the Vienna-based UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC)
is set to establish a Global Container Project, on a pilot
basis, at the Tema Port before the end of the year to bust
containers suspected to carry illicit substances.
“We are going to try to identify high risk containers,
address the trade supply chain and improve security at the
ports, as well as improve cooperation between the law
enforcement agencies in your country to stem this problem,”
said Mr. Ketil Ottersen, Senior Programme Coordinator of the
UNODC, in Accra on Tuesday.
Mr. Ottersen, at the head of a three-man team from the UNODC,
was speaking to the media when he called on the Interior
Minister, Dr. Kwame Addo-Kufuor to thrash out modalities for
the commencement of the programme.
“Ghana is a major transit point for drugs from South America
to Europe…..And this project, we believe, would counter the
drug trade in the sub-region.”
Ghana, along with Senegal, Pakistan and Ecuador, were
selected for the UN programme to counter the narcotics
trade. These countries have high seizure rates in terms of
the quantum of drugs intercepted by authorities.
Experts have contended that even though Ghana has gained
notoriety for being a transit point in narcotics, it was
also fast becoming a consuming country.
The UNODC, as part of the preparatory phase of the project,
has already established contact and trained several
personnel from the Customs, Excise and Preventive Service (CEPS),
the Police Service, the Narcotics Control Board and the
Ghana Ports and Harbours Authority.
“We have already established communications contact with
several ports, and we are going to install modern
technologies and equipment at the ports to mitigate the
situation,” Ottersen said.
However, the crux of the modalities was held behind closed
doors at the Interior Ministry because of what the sector
Minister termed “sensitive nature of the discussion”.
Dr Addo-Kufuor, who assumed office after being sworn in last
week, expressed regret about Ghana’s “bad reputation
worldwide” for the drug trade, saying, “We need to do away
with this negativity that is ruining our country”.
GNA
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