The Executive Secretary of the Narcotics Control Board (NACOB), Yaw Akrasi Sarpong has rejected claims from the NPP that he is just peddling narcotics related rumours to please his employers. Mr. Sarpong had early on this week warned that NACOB had evidence that some politicians could be using narcotics money to fund their political activities and will therefore make sure that those who intend to use such ill-gotten resources during the 2012 elections and beyond will be brought to book. His comments elicited reactions mainly from members of the opposition NPP who believe his so-called warning is being orchestrated by the ruling government to hurt the electoral fortunes of the NPP. Some have dared him to go beyond the rhetoric and name those politicians who are on his watch list while others have urged him to proceed to court if he has any evidence against the said people to prosecute them. But Mr Sarpong who was on the Super Morning Show on Wednesday has said the argument by the NPP is unacceptable because it will therefore mean that those who worked in that office before him were also working on the orders of the NPP. “Are the same people saying that they put people in office during the NPP time not to take swipes at narcotics people?... I am saying that that argument if you flip it over, is to say that those who are saying that must be asking themselves 'so did the NPP put people in office so that they will oversee, for example, the loss of cocaine from [the] Police or so that they don’t take a swipe at the government?’ Excuse me, I don’t buy that argument,” he stated. Defending his comments that NACOB was going to hunt down such politicians benefiting from the trade, Mr. Sarpong said all over the world, institutions follow latest trends in order to get a clear indication of what the drug peddlers are doing, adding the trend in the Ghanaian body politic is that some politicians are knowingly using such monies to fund their ambitions. Touching on efforts being made to fight the drug trade in Ghana, Mr Sarpong who agrees with his critics who thinks he is "crazy", said the fight against the trade in Ghana and within the West African sub-region is very expensive. He said the process of tracking people who indulge in the trade and the cross-checking of information from deep-throat sources is very crucial as these must be assessed to ensure that it is reliable enough so as not to go on a wild goose chase. He said sometimes when the wrong leads are tracked, the individuals involved go into hiding and therefore care must be taken to ensure that the right information is gleaned when investigations are ongoing. On the challenges facing NACOB, Mr. Akrasi stated that work is on course to recruit some more people in the regions in order to make the zonal offices operational. He said once they have more officers in the regions, their zonal operations will improve and make the work of peddlers even more difficult. He however stated that the prospective recruits will have to undergo a polygraph test in order to check the credibility of the candidates as some members of the cartels would want to infiltrate the operations of the board. He said as part of measures to improve the operations of the NACOB, there are proposals for the government to change the institution into a Commission. This, he said, will help upgrade their structures and make officials more effective in executing their mandates. Story by Derick Romeo Adogla/Myjoyonline.com/Ghana