NPP links resurgence of drug trafficking cases to NDC’s return to power

The National Organiser of the opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP), Henry Nana Boakye, has accused the governing National Democratic Congress (NDC) of having a history of association with illicit drug trafficking.

Speaking at a press conference on Tuesday, September 22, Mr Boakye, popularly known as Nana B, claimed that the emergence of recent drug-related cases following the NDC’s return to power was evidence of a link between the party and the illicit drug trade.

He cited the case of Nayele Ametefeh, who was arrested at Heathrow Airport in the United Kingdom in November 2014 for transporting cocaine from Ghana during President John Mahama’s first administration.

Ametefeh was found with about 12.5 kilogrammes of cocaine and was subsequently convicted and sentenced to eight years and eight months in prison by a British court.

Mr Boakye argued that recent narcotics-related incidents involving consignments reportedly traced to Ghana mirrored developments recorded under the previous Mahama administration.

He described the situation as disturbing, claiming that illicit drug trafficking had resurfaced following the NDC’s return to government.

“We have been here before, don’t forget. Ghanaians have not forgotten the Nayele Ametefe scandal under the first Mahama administration, where this drug trafficker was afforded the courtesy of the VVIP wing at the Kotoka International Airport before her arrest at Heathrowy with cocaine in her bags, an episode that dragged our country’s name through international disgrace,” he said.

“Today, under the second Mahama term, the same pattern has resurfaced, the same process has returned, and it has grown to be much worse,” he claimed.

His comments follow the reported interception of nearly 3.9 tonnes of cocaine at the Port of Dunkirk in France in September 2026. The drugs, valued at an estimated €225 million, were reportedly concealed in a container carrying plastic waste shipped from Ghana.

The Narcotics Control Commission later announced the arrest of three people in connection with the consignment and said investigations were continuing.