GIVE COCAINE DEALERS STIFFER SENTENCES

...Instead of killing drivers who cart chainsaw logs
By Charles Takyi-Boadu
Posted:Wednesday, July 9, 2008.
A 58 year old resident of Accra-Newtown, Madam Akosua Apeagyei, is advocating for stiffer punishment for drug dealers, especially those in the lucrative cocaine business.
Her concern was that the activities, and operations of these cocaine dealers, are not only denting the image of the country, but also introducing its innocent youth, who form the bulk of the population, to the use and sale of illegal drugs.
She has thus made a passionate appeal, to all categories of judges in the country, to consider the level of threat that the lives of the youth are exposed to, by those involved in the act, and hand down stiffer sentences on them.
This, according to her, would serve as a deterrent to others, who have intentions of going into the drug business.
Madam Apeagyei raised these issues, when she called at the Tesano offices of The Chronicle, to express concern about the killing of illegal chain-saw operators in the country.
Whilst admitting that the activities of illegal chain-saw operators, was affecting the country in one way or the other, she noted that cocaine dealers were worse off, considering the dire effects of their business on the larger population.
She wondered why illegal chain-saw operators are handed heavy sentences, and sometimes killed upon arrest, whilst cocaine barons sometimes manage to go scot-free, without any punitive measures.
The concerned mother said she could not comprehend why some Ghanaians, particularly the youth, even resort to the use of cocaine to allegedly enhance their sexual performance and ability to socialise. Under the current circumstance, Madam Apeagyei noted that Ghana had a big problem with drug abuse, and called for measures, which would effectively deal with the increasing use of drugs, and help treat and rehabilitate users. Latest world reports identifies Ghana, as one of the countries in the West African sub-region, which is being used as a drug trafficking point, for carting cocaine to Europe, as international criminal networks exploit the region’s lack of resources, to combat drug smuggling.
A recent study, carried out by the United Nations, indicated that Africa was increasingly being used by the drug cartels, for the processing and consumption of illicit drugs, as well as money laundering, with African governments grappling with how best to face this new threat.
To put things into a better perspective, seizures of cocaine increased by 18 per cent worldwide and by 4,000% in Ghana, from 2003 to 2004.
Africa, as a whole, for the same period, witnessed a three-fold jump in the amount of cocaine seized, from 1.1 tonnes to 3.6 tonnes.
The staggering statistics, contained in the latest United Nations report on drug trafficking, were presented to a Nairobi law enforcement conference, which gathered anti-narcotic officers from 34 African nations.
Moreover, since the UN study, the quantity of cocaine smuggled into Ghana, which has come to the notice of our local law enforcement officers, is close to the 3.6 tonnes seized in the whole of Africa in 2004.
In November 2005, 588kgs of cocaine were seized, in a raid at a house at East Legon. About 2,310kgs of cocaine were imported to Ghana, and discharged from the vessel, MV Benjamin, which docked in Tema, according to a fact-finding report commissioned by the Ministry of the Interior.
But with high profile cases in recent times, including the US arrest of Eric Amoateng, a then Member of Parliament (MP), and the alleged involvement of Ghanaian police officers in the illicit trade, western custom officers have revised their books, adding Ghana to the list of 'high priority destinations.’
Ghana, for instance, does not have coast guards. The Georgina Wood Committee, which investigated the missing 77 parcels of cocaine (with a street value of approximately $200m) smuggled into the country in April, recommended that a reasonably well-resourced Navy, and an equally well-resourced Air Force, was necessary if the war against the drug trade is to succeed.
It has further recommended the examination of other viable options, for marine and coastal patrol.
An independent, well-resourced service, dedicated to marine and coastal patrols, may prove a better way of ensuring the safety and security of the country’s territorial waters.