The Minority New Patriotic Party (NPP) caucus in Parliament has written to the diplomatic community in Ghana to show interest in the ongoing controversy involving some flights which travelled from the Spanish Island of Gran Canaria to the Kotoka International Airport (KIA).
The flights allegedly carried suspicious illicit drugs and money.
The Caucus has, therefore, called on the diplomatic community to, as a matter of urgency, use diplomatic channels to collaborate with the Ghanaian security and intelligence community to unravel the conundrum and controversy surrounding the matter.
This comes after the Minority, in a Press Conference on 1st April, 2025 alleged that its intelligence indicated that two planes, AirMed and Cavok Air that landed at KIA from Gran Canaria, and stayed for days before departing were allegedly carrying suspected illicit goods and money.
They called on the Government to make public the content of cargo suspected to be cocaine and cash.
Following the Press Conference, President John Dramani Mahama, directed the state investigative agencies to investigate the matter.
There were, also, calls from several well-meaning Ghanaians, security experts, and the international community, including the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), for Government to conduct thorough investigations into the matter.
However, even before these investigations could commence, the Minister of State in charge of Government Communication, Mr. Felix Kwakye Ofosu, dismissed the allegations, calling the investigations “a waste of time.”
He also and insinuated that the President did not mean it when he called for investigations into the matter. Speaking on Asempa FM, on Friday, 4th April, 2025, the Minister said the directive issued by the President was “just to prove that he (Hon. Ntim Fordjour) had no evidence to back what he said.”
Fact-Check Ghana has, however, corroborated most of the information on the flights put out by the Minority.
They confirmed that the two AirMed flights, flew to KIA straight from Gran Canaria, contrary to the Minister’s claim that the flight came from Luanda.
They, also, said they could not find the activity history of the Cavok flights that the Minister referenced in his responses, as searches have not shown that these flights flew into the country on the said dates.
It, however, does not appear that the Minority Caucus in Parliament wants the matter to die without investigations.
In a letter signed by the Ranking Member on the Foreign Affairs Committee, and Member of Parliament for Damongo, Mr. Samuel A. Jinapor, and addressed to the Dean of the Diplomatic Corps in Ghana and the Lebanese Ambassador to Ghana, H.E. Maher Kheir, the Minority Caucus on the Foreign Affairs Committee requested the diplomatic community to take interest in the matter, and share intelligence with the Ghanaian security agencies to investigate the matter.
According to the Minority Caucus, Ghana is party to several international treaties and conventions which impose an obligation on the country to fight transnational organised crimes such as illicit drug trade and money laundering, including the Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs, 1961 (as amended by the 1972 Protocol), the Convention on Psychotropic Substances, 1971, the UN Convention against Illicit Traffic in Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances, 1988 (the Vienna Convention), and the UN Convention against Transnational Organised Crime, 2000.
The Caucus noted that Ghana has, in the past few years, adopted legislative, regulatory and administrative measures necessary to curb illicit traffic of drugs and money laundering, including the enactment of the Narcotics Control Commission Act, 2020 (Act 1019) and the Anti-Money Laundering Act, 2020 (Act 1044). They expressed concern that Ghana risks becoming a transit point for illicit drugs and money if these matters are not properly investigated. Such a situation, they noted, could have serious political, economic and diplomatic implications for the country and the West African Region.
According to the Caucus, it is only through investigations that we can establish the veracity or otherwise of such allegations, and where appropriate, prosecute offenders to serve as deterrent to others, as well as gather credible intelligence to prevent future crimes.
They, therefore, called on the diplomatic community to use diplomatic channels to intervene in the matter. Specifically, the Caucus requested the diplomatic community to share intelligence with the Ghanaian security authorities on the aircrafts concerned, facilitate the deployment of the security apparatus of their respective countries to collaborate with the Ghanaian security authorities in any future investigations, and assist the Ghanaian State, through her arms of Government, generally, and Parliament in particular, to avoid the undesirable, unenvious and dangerous reputation of a drug State.
The Caucus, also, called on the diplomatic community to use diplomatic channels to get the Government to establish a Commission on Inquiry to conduct an a full, faithful and impartial inquiry into the matter, as well as seek the protection of Members of Parliament who serve as whistleblowers in matters of this nature.
