The Ranking Member on Parliament’s Defence and Interior Committee, Rev. John Ntim Fordjour, says the Speaker’s decision to reject the Minority’s motion for an inquiry into recent cocaine seizures lends weight to concerns about political protection for drug traffickers in Ghana.

His comments follow an emergency sitting of Parliament during which Speaker Alban Bagbin ruled the Minority’s motion seeking the establishment of an ad hoc committee to investigate recent narcotics seizures inadmissible.

The motion sought an inquiry into how major consignments of cocaine were processed, inspected, cleared and exported from Ghana.

Speaking on Joy News, Rev. Ntim Fordjour said the decision to block the inquiry corroborates concerns raised in the 2025 Global Organised Crime Index, which suggests that political protection may help explain a decline in visible cocaine trafficking in Ghana.

The report cites concerns from law enforcement officials and civil society stakeholders that falling seizures and reduced media coverage could conceal continued trafficking activity.

According to Rev. Ntim Fordjour, if the concerns about political protection were unfounded, there would have been no reason to prevent a bipartisan parliamentary investigation.

“For the fact that the Speaker of Parliament and the Majority NDC gagged this inquiry goes to corroborate the points that Global Organised Crime Index have put up, and they have alleged that persons and groups peddling drugs and trafficking cocaine in Ghana receive political protection.”

The Assin South MP argued that if the allegations were unfounded, there would have been no reason to block a bipartisan parliamentary inquiry into the matter.

Rev. Ntim Fordjour said the decision to block the inquiry suggests there may be information the government and the Majority do not want exposed.

“For Speaker and Majority to gag and to block this inquiry, it tells us there is something they are hiding, and they want to keep protecting the drug cartels that Global Organised Crime Index have alleged,” he said.

He noted that the Minority’s push for an inquiry had received support from organisations including the Catholic Bishops’ Conference, the Christian Council of Ghana and other civil society groups.

He said the support from such groups demonstrated that the proposed investigation was not merely a partisan political exercise.