Speaker Alban Bagbin Rejects Minority Motion to Probe Recent Narcotics Seizures

• Speaker of Parliament Alban Bagbin dismissed a Minority motion calling for an ad hoc committee during an emergency sitting on Tuesday, September 29
• The motion, filed by Tolon MP Habib Iddrisu, sought to probe a series of high-profile narcotics seizures in Ghana and abroad worth hundreds of millions
• The proposed committee would have examined port security, customs procedures, and Ghana's cooperation with international law-enforcement agencies

Speaker of Parliament Alban Bagbin has dismissed a motion brought by the Minority caucus that sought to establish a special parliamentary committee to examine a string of major narcotics interceptions linked to Ghana.

The decision came during an emergency sitting of Parliament held on Tuesday, September 29, convened specifically to address the motion. Bagbin ruled it out of order, citing several procedural grounds.

"It is inadmissible under Standing Orders 5, 6, 103, Rule F, Order 192 and Order 233, and I accordingly dismiss this motion in limine," the Speaker declared.

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The Motion Behind the Emergency Sitting

The motion was filed by First Deputy Minority Whip and Tolon MP Habib Iddrisu. It called for the creation of an Ad Hoc Committee to scrutinise a series of large-scale narcotics interceptions connected to consignments that passed through Ghana.

Among the incidents at the centre of the motion was the seizure of 3.9 metric tonnes of a controlled substance by French Customs at Dunkirk on September 10, 2026, valued at approximately $261 million. The motion also referenced the interception of 320kg of methamphetamine by the Australian Border Force on June 18, 2026, as well as separate seizures in Takoradi and Pedu in Cape Coast in March 2025.

What the Proposed Committee Aimed to Do

The Minority's proposed inquiry had broad ambitions. It sought to establish how the seized consignments were processed and cleared at Ghanaian ports, including what scanning, physical inspection, and intelligence profiling procedures were applied prior to departure.

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The motion also intended to identify the companies, state agencies, and other entities involved in handling the consignments, subject to the limits of any ongoing criminal proceedings. Beyond that, the committee would have assessed the adequacy of security infrastructure at Ghana's ports, airports, and other exit and entry points, covering surveillance, scanning technology, and intelligence capabilities.

The Minority further sought parliamentary oversight of the status of arrests, prosecutions, and the level of cooperation between Ghanaian authorities and their international counterparts in law enforcement.

With the Speaker's ruling, the motion will not proceed to committee stage, and the proposed parliamentary inquiry has been brought to a close at this stage.

Source: YEN.com.gh