The Deputy Minority Whip, Habib Iddrisu, says that President John Mahama's newly constituted Executive inter-agency task force to investigate recent narcotic seizures cannot replace Parliament’s constitutional oversight role.

According to him, some of the agencies and officials involved in the two-week investigation are themselves among those who must answer questions about how large consignments of cocaine linked to Ghana were able to leave the country.

Speaking on JoyFM’s Top Story on Friday, September 18, Mr Iddrisu said the Minority’s request for the recall of Parliament is intended to allow lawmakers to conduct an independent inquiry into the circumstances surrounding the seizures.

“To start with, the work of the Executive does not stop any work of Parliament. The work that the President has set up through the Executive, bringing members of their agencies together to look into this matter, does not stop us from our constitutionally mandated oversight work,” he said.

He questioned the decision to involve agencies that, according to him, have questions to answer in the investigation.

“And we are even convinced that the people that the President has set up to actually investigate this matter, they are the very people who have questions. So definitely, you can't be a judge in your own case,” he added.

Mr Iddrisu said the Narcotics Control Commission, Ghana Ports and Harbours Authority, Ghana Revenue Authority, Ghana Immigration Service and National Intelligence Bureau, as well as the Ministers responsible for the Interior and National Security, must provide answers.

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“We are very convinced that the Narcotics Control Commission, the Ghana Ports and Harbours Authority, the Commissioner-General of the Ghana Revenue Authority, the Ghana Immigration Service, the National Intelligence Bureau and other ministers like the Minister responsible for Interior and National Security, they have questions to answer,” he said.

He said the parliamentary inquiry would, among other things, examine the reported seizure of 3.9 tonnes of cocaine in France from a container that originated from Ghana.

“Part of the reasons why we have filed for this matter is actually to look at the reported seizure of the 3.9 tons of cocaine in France from a container originating from Ghana and to set up a parliamentary inquiry,” Mr Iddrisu said.

He said Parliament would also seek to establish how the container was processed and exported from Ghana, identify officials involved in facilitating its movement and determine the company behind the consignment.

“Among other things, [the inquiry] will address the circumstances under which the container intercepted in France was processed and exported from Ghana, and the port officials that facilitated this, the identity of the people or the company that is behind the said container, [and] the extent of cooperation,” he said.

Mr Iddrisu said the repeated cocaine seizures linked to Ghana had heightened the need for Parliament to intervene.

“This is becoming one too many that has actually necessitated us calling for this emergency recall. This is the biggest cocaine bust in the history of this country, that 3.9 tons of cocaine had been intercepted, allegedly coming from Ghana,” he said.