The Danquah Institute, a media, research and policy organization spearheaded by Mr. Gabby Asare Otchere-Darko, has taken President John Evans Atta Mills' administration to task over claims that the illicit drug trafficking has drastically reduced. According to the Danquah Institute, it was unfortunate that the government had taken advantage of the reported shortage of drugs as proclaimed by the Narcotic Controls Board (NACOB) to score some cheap political points. The Danquah Institute has questioned the validity of the claims from the Presidency that the incidence of drug trafficking in the country has reduced. In a statement signed by Nana Attobrah Quaicoe, Head of Research at the Danquah Institute, it said "Even though President Mills during his campaign pledged to vigorously fight the menace, the reported shortage of drugs by the Narcotics Control Board (NACOB) last week cannot be simply explained as the result of increased efforts by the government and security agencies." Accordingly, he averred that "Governance is essentially about policies, legislation and enforcement, and not mere indications or speculations; it is particularly worrying because it is difficult to point at any new policy or legislation of the new government in this regard" He continued, "There is no statistics to back the claims, no coast guards nor sniffer dogs at border post and indeed we don't even know of any increment in budgetary allocation to NACOB." Nana Attobrah, who questioned whether the drug trafficking has really been reduced, noted that it was a known fact from the government's physical statement that the Interior Ministry this year received 15% or 15 million cedis less than what went to it in 2008. Expressing concerns over attempts to play politics with the drug issues, he said, surely the drug trafficking situation in West Africa and particularly Ghana was so serious that there was no need to begin to play politics with it. According to him, the claim by the head of NACOB, ACP Robert Ayalingo that his investigations revealed that most of the barons had relocated elsewhere, but also said he did not have specific facts to back the claims of the investigations, was untenable. "'The history of drug trafficking in Ghana has not been exclusive to any particular government or political party, instead of playing politics as always, we should be looking at setting up an ECOWAS Coastguard body which has trans-national jurisdiction to police our coastlines." Nana Attobrah hinted that such activities may cost about $100 million to set up and run annually but this is where we can collaborate with the rich nations in the west where the bulk of these drugs are destined. "In the last three to four years, the United States has given over $1.5 billion to the Colombian government and is doing similar with Mexico as well. As US President Obama plans to visit Ghana in July, Perhaps government may consider proposing such a relationship on the fight against drug trafficking with commitments from other ECOWAS leaders, less than 10% of that will not only deepen and widen the fight but also entrench it." Source: The Ghanaian Chronicle