News:
December 15, 2010
Former Interior Minister and Attorney General in the Kufuor administration, Papa Owusu Ankomah revealed on Joy FM’s Super Morning Show that he proposed a salary hike for NACOB officials that would have been greater than that of ordinary public servants but the proposal was not implemented.
The former minister and current MP for Sekondi bemoaned the poor remuneration most of Ghana’s security agencies receive, insisting this is one of the reasons the security agencies are influenced by these powerful drug cartels.
“We are not really motivating those who operate in the security services, particularly those who operate in the drug enforcement agencies. I mean they are not given any special treatment.
“I recall in my time that I made a proposal that those operating in the Narcotics Control Board should earn salaries over and above what normal public servants in related positions hold but these things [are] difficult to implement,” he stated.
Papa Owusu Ankomah was reacting to Wikileaks’ latest cable about Ghana in which it indicated that President Mills allegedly confessed to US diplomats that some elements within his administration have been dealing in narcotics and directed that they be screened privately to avoid any embarrassment.
Wikileaks also revealed that the Kufuor administration did little to curb the flow of narcotics into the country.
Papa Owusu Ankomah however, felt the Kufuor administration was hard done by the Wikileaks publication, insisting that the government then took pragmatic measures to curb the flow of narcotics into the country such as the anti-money laundering laws that were established during that time.
He added that another serious challenge hitting the country is the fact that most of these drug lords use money to influence politicians to draft policies that suit them to the neglect of the nation.
This, he said, was the importance of leaving out politics from the narcotics menace, insisting that the drug dealers do not take into consideration which government is in power and therefore, there was the need for everyone to deal with the problem from a national perspective.
Commenting on President Mills’ willingness to subject himself to a drug search, the MP downplayed the initiative, rather choosing to focus more on the need to have security institutions well-resourced to fend off the inflow of illegal drugs.
“I will agree when you talk about political will. But political will is really about statements. The President makes a statement, [that] oh yes I’m going to fight drugs… really it’s a one-off thing. Let’s talk more about improving the institutional blocks,” he said.
Source: joy fm