There is a long lasting relationship between narcotic money and the funding of political party activities in Ghana. That is according to security analyst, Dr. Kwesi Aning. Dr. Aning, who was commenting on threats by the Director of the Narcotic Control Board (NACOB) that politicians who intend to finance their activities towards the 2012 general Elections with narcotic money will be hunted down and prosecuted, told Kojo Opong-Nkrumah on the Super Morning Show Monday that the NACOB boss should be applauded for coming out boldly on the issue despite the institutional impediments he faces. Director of NACOB, Akrasi Sarpong, told Joy FM’s Sammy Darko that "if any politician dares us (NACOB) and uses narcotics money for politics, that person will be sorry. Whether you are an NDC or NPP or CPP or whatever, you will be sorry." He said his outfit is picking interesting leads about the use of proceeds from narcotics ahead of the general elections. Dr. Aning, who is also the Director of Research at the Kofi Annan Peace Keeping Centre says, the call is timely. Monies not accounted for Dr. Aning believes the “excessive uncountable money” being used by the political parties which he complained about prior to the 2008 General Elections are issues that need to be addressed if the country wants to put a stop to the funding of political parties with narco-money. He stressed the need to strengthen institutions which are focused on fighting the canker even though he believes the upcoming elections will make matters quite difficult: “The end result is that Election 2012, because the prize of victory is so sweet and the allure of power is so enticing we would see that people or politicians will go back and get all kinds of money from [other] people’s extremely shady past,” he stated. Asked whether he thought politicians are aware the monies were from the sale of narcotics before taking them, Dr. Aning said “I think they accept those monies knowingly.” He added that it is important to trace the history of politicians who have been jailed for such drug offences such as the former Member of Parliament Amoateng (who was jailed in the United States of America), if any meaningful progress will be made in this regard. He noted that Ghanaian politicians who receive such financial rewards from known narcotic sources must be named and shamed in order to make the practice unattractive to others. UN report A new United Nations report recently warned that the fight against narcotics in the West African sub-region is being lost as cartels have devised more ingenuous means of transporting the drugs. The report said the cartels now use submersibles to transport the drugs, revealing the weak security institutional structures in the sub-region. Dr. Aning said “Narcotics, whether it is Marijuana, Cocaine, Heroin, Ephedrine, Methamphetamine or [others] is beginning to pose both a political and security threat to this country. We are now internationally known not only as a traffic country or a transit country but as a country where the impact of these narcotics are beginning to have a cumulative negative impact.” He said the trade is growing as it has been discovered that between eight and fifteen percent of the narcotics entering main land Europe come through Ghana. He further explained that the activities of the less powerful groups which he calls the - “small flies” - are causing problems for the nation and that it will be dangerous to gloat over the little arrest being made as the drug pushers have now gone high tech. Story by Derick Romeo Adolga/Myjoyonline.com/Ghana