Former Vice President and 2028 New Patriotic Party (NPP) Presidential Candidate Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia has raised alarm over what he says is Ghana’s growing international notoriety for drug trafficking, accusing the government of responding with mere meetings instead of decisive action.
Addressing the NPP National Delegates Conference in Kumasi, the 2028 flagbearer said Ghana’s name is being dragged through the ports of Europe as drugs pass through Ghana’s borders unnoticed.
“Our dear motherland is gaining notoriety for drugs being arrested abroad, having passed through our borders unnoticed. Our country’s name is being dragged through the ports of Europe, and the government has answered with meetings, not results,” he said.
He called for a bipartisan committee of Parliament, sitting in public, with powers to summon witnesses and demand shipping records.
“Arresting couriers is not enough. Ghanaians want to know who is financing these shipments and how they keep getting through. As many religious groups, Civil Society Organizations and concerned Ghanaians have expressed, this is ruining the international image of our country and we must act now,” he stressed.
On galamsey, Dr. Bawumia was candid.
“Let us be honest. Galamsey has troubled almost every government in the Fourth Republic. It is a complex national challenge that demands seriousness, not slogans,” he said.
He accused the NDC of making unrealistic promises to end galamsey in months and restore polluted water bodies.
“Ghanaians are reminded every day of how the NDC and its senior officials, many of whom are Cabinet Ministers and top CEOs today, lambasted the NPP government and told Ghanaians that they possessed the magic to end galamsey instantly if voted into office. Today, under their watch, in nearly two years, galamsey has grown embarrassingly worse,” he noted.
He also turned to education and health.
He said Agenda 111, designed to provide district hospitals, has stalled under the NDC, denying millions access to healthcare and health graduates jobs.
On Free SHS, he said the programme is suffering after the NDC promised to improve it.
“After they promised to improve meals for students, today it has deteriorated. Many of our young BECE graduates are being deliberately cut off from Free SHS and what frustrated parents are told by the government is that their wards have deservedly failed,” he said.
He reminded delegates and the nation that the NDC never believed in Free SHS and bastardized it for years until they saw its impact.
On cocoa and other promises, he said: “The promises to cocoa farmers to increase the cocoa price to GH¢6500 has turned out to be a scam. The promise of automatic posting of teachers and nurses… has turned out to be another scam. Even their much touted Nkoko nkitikiti program has failed.”