A Management Consultant, Professor Stephen Adei, has criticised the Food and Drugs Authority (FDA) over its handling of the alleged fake drug issue involving Tobinco Pharmaceutical Limited.

According to Prof Adei, who is widely accredited with the transformation of the Ghana Institute of Management of Public Administration (GIMPA),the action of the FDA in the Tobinco affair smacked of gross abuse of office.

He said it was inconceivable that a company and its officials who had been accused of importing fake drags into the country would be walking about freely without any charge.

Addressing the opening session of the eighth annual Internal Audit Forum in Accra Monday, Prof Adei said the handling of the Tobinco issue so far raised suspicion that the FDA had motives other than its concern about the prevalence of fake drugs on the market.

The theme for the event was: “Fraud, Waste And Abuse of State Resources: The Bane of National Development”.

“It is inconceivable for a company’s CEO to allegedly admit to importing fake drugs and still be allowed to walk about freely,” Prof Adei wondered.

He also said it was difficult to understand why the purported fake drugs had the certification logo on them if they were, indeed, fake.

“It is inconceivable that a pharmaceutical company of repute will import fake drags into the country and sell them under itsftwn label,” he said.

He said it was clear to him that the FDA was engaged in gross abuse of office in relation to the Tobinco affair.

“What is more baffling is the fact that the BNI and other security agencies are doing nothing to arrest someone who has allegedly imported fake drugs which have the potential of killing people,” he said.

The former GIMPA rector said the actions of the FDA boss were some of the reasons some indigenous Ghanaian companies collapsed in the early 1980s.

According to him, the actions of the FDA in the Tobinco affair created the impression that the authoritv’s actions were either geared towards favouring a competitor in the pharmaceutical company or a sheer act of political victimisation.

Prof Adei, therefore, appealed to the government to make sure that persons appointed to head various state institutions were people with integrity and not officials who would abuse their power for personal gain or political expediency.