The Majority in Parliament has described the Minority’s request for an extraordinary recall of the House over recent narcotics seizures linked to Ghana as premature and of questionable intent.
In remarks responding to the National Patriotic Party (NPP)-led Minority’s petition to Speaker Alban Bagbin, Majority Leader, James Agalga expressed serious doubts about the real purpose behind the demand.
He stressed that Parliament is not an institution mandated to conduct criminal investigations.
“Parliament is not an arm of government that engages in criminal investigations,” he said.
“Normally, what happens is that we exercise oversight when the criminal investigation agencies have done their work, brought matters to conclusion, and Parliament thinks or believes that maybe the investigations were not properly carried out. At that stage, Parliament can invite the criminal investigation agencies to appear before its relevant committees and respond to queries,” he added.
Agalga warned against running parallel inquiries while agencies such as the Narcotics Control Commission and the police are still actively investigating.
“Whilst they are still at it, you cannot have multiple investigations in respect of the same matter happening concurrently. When you do that, you could have an absurd situation where the multiple investigations may lead to different conclusions and when you have that happening, you have chaos on your hands to manage,” he said.
The Majority Leader maintained that the Minority’s request is therefore premature noting that several of the incidents cited to justify the recall have already been addressed.
“Most of the things they have capitalised to justify the recall are matters that have been dealt with. Seizures, so interdictions were made, a huge, I mean kilograms of cocaine intercepted in a tipper truck. The matter has been dealt with, the cocaine destroyed publicly. You want us to recall to consider that?,” he questioned.
The comments form part of the Majority’s rejection of the Minority’s claims that a series of seizures in France, Australia and South Africa, together with domestic interdictions, have turned Ghana into a “cocaine coast.”
The Minority has formally invoked constitutional and standing-order provisions to compel a recall, citing concerns over port security, customs controls and national reputation.
The Majority continues to insist that existing investigative bodies should be allowed to complete their work without parliamentary interference.
