Security analyst, Adib Sani has described the decision of President John Mahama to host an emergency high-level meeting on border security and narcotics control as evidence of deeper institutional failures in the country.
“The meeting itself, I must say, is an indictment on the security setup because they should have done better,” Sani told Starr News in an interview.
He pointed to “weaknesses within the port and customs ecosystem” and “lapses within the security space” that have allowed significant volumes of narcotics to move through the country.
He continued that the trafficking involves re-exportation of drugs “with some level of local connivance.”
He noted that the identities of those involved cannot be fully established without a thorough audit.
“As to who they are, we are unable to tell until a complete audit is done into the matter,” he added.
While acknowledging that some arrests have been made in the past, Saani questioned whether the response has been adequate.
“Did it have to get to the extent where hundreds of millions of dollars worth of drugs had to pass? No, it hasn’t,” he said.
He further criticised what he described as a tendency to focus on lower-level operatives while failing to pursue the major players.
“If you ask me whether the focus has been put on the small folks, we are consistently failing to go for the big things.”
Sani warned that the current situation signals that “there is fire on the mountain and things are not going well as it should,” adding that the security architecture requires better structuring to address the gaps.
The emergency meeting is expected to examine measures to strengthen border controls and disrupt trafficking networks amid the heightened public and political scrutiny.
Source: Starrfm.com.gh
