Majority Leader Cletus Avoka was forced to withdraw a document he used to back his claim that Ghana until the NDC assumed power had become a cocaine coast. The Majority Leader in his concluding remarks on a debate on the President’s sessional address, quoted from a document to back his claims that Ghana was a cocaine coast under the NPP government. According to Mr Avoka, although the country had taken on that grim accolade, the proactive attitude of the National Democratic Congress government had ensured a marked reduction in the menace. The leader of the house claimed he was quoting from a document from the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), an organization which, among others, monitors the proliferation of drugs. “It came to the extent that the international community even described Ghana as a cocaine coast and no more a Gold Coast…As a result of that we have fought as a country, and the image of Ghana on the international level now is very, very high,” he told the legislators. The comment torched off an uproar in the House as Minority MPs issued a series of rebuttals. The Minority challenged Mr. Avoka to make public the document for verification, but the Majority Leader would not oblige until the Speaker requested a copy. Following the ensuing stalemate the Speaker intervened and the Majority Leader withdrew the document. “Madam I withdraw the paper but I stand by my words,” the Majority Leader said. Multiple recurrences This is not the first time the issue of cocaine coast has come up and generated such reaction from the Minority. Issues such as the popular Eric Amoateng cocaine saga as well as the MV Benjamin cocaine trial seemed to have been buried but the ruling party seems to be using memories of them as grist for the mill. Member of Parliament for Suhum and Minority Chief Whip Frederick Opare Ansah says such derogatory comments from the Majority side are rather flawed. He believes documents on Ghana as having been an exit point for cocaine trade did not make specific reference to the Kufuor administration. “The issue of cocaine was not restricted in any manner of time or location to just Ghana. It is something that had to deal with the West African sub-region and that is the commentary that that document sought to give,” he indicated. According to him, there is a deliberate attempt to stoke the perception that the NPP government aided cocaine trade during its tenure. Maintaining that there were cases of cocaine smuggling during the administrations of both parties, Mr Opare Ansah said information from the CIA citing Ghana as a cocaine hot spot dated back to the 1990s when the NDC government ruled. Dress-up? Meanwhile an MP from the Majority side has been attempting to do some dressing up. Member of Parliament for Nkwanta South suggests the argument by the Minority MPs is not accurate. According to Mr Geshon Gediame, Mr Avoka was not referring specifically to any government but a period when Ghana came into the international spotlight as a place brimming with the narcotic drug. Listen to excerpts of the debate on the floor and subsequent reactions Story by Sammy Darko and Fiifi Koomson/Myjoyonline.com/Ghana