Parliament is set to reconvene today Tuesday, September 29, for an extraordinary sitting as pressure mounts for a Parliament cocaine seizure inquiry into major narcotics consignments linked to Ghana.
Speaker Alban Bagbin summoned lawmakers to Parliament House for a noon sitting after a petition led by First Deputy Minority Whip and Tolon MP Habib Iddrisu invoked Article 112(3) of the 1992 Constitution. The provision allows the required proportion of MPs to request an extraordinary meeting of the House.
The Speaker’s recall notice did not specify the detailed business for the sitting, but it followed the Minority’s request for parliamentary scrutiny of recent drug seizures.
Dunkirk Seizure Drives Scrutiny
At the centre of the controversy is the seizure of nearly 3.9 tonnes of cocaine by French customs officials at the Port of Dunkirk on September 10.
The drugs were reportedly concealed in a container of plastic waste that had arrived from Ghana. French authorities placed the estimated value of the consignment at about €225 million.
The Minority wants Parliament to examine how the container was processed, inspected and cleared for export, as well as the effectiveness of Ghana’s scanning, customs and intelligence systems.
Minority Seeks Bipartisan Inquiry
Ahead of the sitting, Mr Iddrisu and other NPP MPs filed a private members’ motion seeking an ad hoc parliamentary committee to investigate the Dunkirk case and other major narcotics seizures linked to Ghana.
The proposed inquiry would also examine cooperation between Ghanaian security agencies and international authorities, alongside the status of investigations and prosecutions.
The Minority says the incidents raise questions about port security and Ghana’s vulnerability to international drug trafficking. Other lawmakers have argued that existing parliamentary committees could investigate the matter without an extraordinary recall.
Attention will now turn to whether the one-day sitting results in a formal bipartisan investigation.
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