Flagbearer of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Dr Mahamudu Bawumia, has called for the identification and prosecution of individuals and entities financing cocaine shipments linked to Ghana, arguing that arresting drug couriers alone is not enough to address the country’s growing narcotics concerns.
He said authorities must uncover the people behind the financing and organisation of the shipments, as well as determine how such consignments continue to pass through Ghana’s ports undetected.
“Our dear motherland is gaining notoriety for drugs being arrested abroad, having passed through our borders unnoticed. Our country’s name is being dragged through ports in Europe, and the government has answered with meetings, not results,” he said.
“Arresting couriers is not enough. Ghanaians want to know who is financing these shipments and how they keep getting through,” he added.
Dr Bawumia made the remarks on Saturday, October 3, 2026, at the NPP’s National Delegates Conference held at the Baba Yara Sports Stadium in Kumasi.
His comments come amid a series of international narcotics seizures involving consignments linked to Ghana, including the seizure by French customs authorities of nearly 3.9 tonnes of cocaine at the northern port of Dunkirk on September 10.
The cocaine, estimated to be worth about €225 million (US$261.45 million), was concealed in a container carrying plastic waste that had arrived from Ghana and was reportedly destined, in part, for Antwerp, Belgium.
French prosecutors have since opened an investigation into the shipment and the criminal network suspected of financing and organising the consignment.
