The National Democratic Congress has dismissed the New Patriotic Party’s demand that Interior Minister Muntaka Mubarak Mohammed and senior Narcotics Control Commission officers resign after a series of drug seizures linked to Ghana.
Deputy Communications Officer Julius Kwame Anthony told Eyewitness News on Wednesday, November 4 that the government will not dismiss officials who, in his view, are strengthening the country’s capacity to combat illicit drug trafficking.
He argued that the interception of suspected drug consignments should not automatically be treated as evidence of failure by security officials. “So nobody is going anywhere. We are focused on delivering for the Ghanaian people,” he said.
Anthony defended NACOC’s leadership, crediting Major General Maxwell Obuba Mantey and the Interior Minister with expanding the commission’s operational capacity and providing it with additional tools to fight drug trafficking. “It is under his leadership that Narcotics is seeing the expansion that I spoke about earlier. It is under his leadership that we have acquired body and baggage scanners for purposes of ensuring that we do not have a free‑for‑all situation as we had in the past,” he added.
The opposition party contends that the seizures raise concerns about the effectiveness of Ghana’s anti‑drug trafficking measures and the ability of security agencies to prevent illicit substances from passing through the country’s borders. Anthony countered that controlled delivery operations are recognised methods of combating drug trafficking and should not be interpreted as proof that security officials have failed.
He also accused the NPP of focusing on political attacks rather than the operational realities of international drug investigations. “Unlike the NPP that is interested in politics, the rest of the world is interested in security and the fight against illicit drug trafficking,” he said.
As the government moves forward, observers will watch how the NDC balances its anti‑corruption stance with the need to maintain public confidence in its security apparatus.
