The Transport Ministry has confirmed the reinstatement of staff at the Ghana Airports Company Limited (GACL) who were interdicted in a cocaine smuggling incident at the Kotoka International Airport (KIA).

The staff were interdicted following the interception of 8.5 kilograms of suspected cocaine at the Brussels Airport in Belgium.

Reports suggested that the cocaine was smuggled through KIA aboard the Moroccan national carrier, Royal Air Maroc, with the assistance of a GACL staff member on March 23, 2024.

Proeger Delgey Bianca, a Dutch national, was apprehended at Brussels Airport with eight and a half kilograms of suspected cocaine, believed to have been transported through KIA on the said date.

Addressing Parliament’s Assurance Committee, Transport Minister Kwaku Asiamah said that the staff were reinstated because they were not found to be culpable.

“No Mr Chairman, they are not on interdiction. They have been cleared…. And the fact that they were not culpable doesn’t mean that they slept on their job,” he said.

• Read also: GACL staff interdicted over alleged cocaine smuggling at KIA

He clarified that it was not his decision to exonerate the staff, noting that simply accusing someone does not automatically make the accusation valid or correct.

“If I give you the opportunity by asking you and you provide me legitimate answers which go contrary to my position, why not? I should be able to say that I’m wrong and you are right. There’s no shame in taking that decision. 

"The fact that we interdicted them and said give us the opportunity to investigate the matter did not necessarily mean that they were wrong or culpable in the matter,” Mr Asiamah stressed.

He explained that internal procedures have been followed in addressing the matter, adding that since the incident, Ghana Airports Company has introduced new scanners to help prevent such occurrences in the future.

The Transport Minister also defended the GACL's decision not to make public the findings of an investigation into staff implicated in an alleged cocaine smuggling scandal.

When asked if the staff had been found guilty and why the outcome was not made public, he responded that the public would have been informed if anyone had been held responsible.

“The purpose of setting up a committee is to determine if anyone is culpable. If the investigation finds that no one is responsible, then no one will be punished. The fact that we set up a committee doesn’t mean someone must necessarily be punished," he explained.

Mr Asiamah stated that some security measures at the airport are not publicly disclosed due to the nature of the industry and security protocols.

"In dealing with this canker, Mr Chairman, it’s not everything you come out to say that I have put this thing at the airport. That one, I won’t say it because per the training and the industry, we are not supposed to come out with the measures we put in place in dealing with the matter," he added.

He suggested that the GALC could have issued a statement to clarify that the investigation found no wrongdoing but maintained that punishing innocent staff would have been unjust.

"Maybe perhaps, after the investigations, we could have come out and told Ghanaians that we investigated them and we found out that they did not do anything wrong. Maybe Ghana Airport Company should have issued that simple statement.

"But once we train our workers, we let them understand the security implications and they abide by it. If somebody hasn’t done wrong, why do you punish him," he asked.