Veteran journalist Dr Kwesi Pratt Jnr has criticised the New Patriotic Party (NPP) over its handling of claims that clandestine laboratories are operating in Ghana to process narcotics for export.
Dr Pratt described the allegation as the “worst thing” to have emerged from the ongoing discussion on Ghana’s recent drug-trafficking cases, questioning why the NPP would publicise intelligence it says it has not independently verified.
Speaking on Alhaji and Alhaji on Pan African Television, Dr Pratt said the NPP’s position that it had intelligence about alleged drug laboratories but did not know their locations raised serious questions about its approach to the matter.
According to him, if the party genuinely believed the intelligence involved the manufacture and export of narcotics, the appropriate response should have been to submit it directly to the relevant security agencies for investigation rather than hold a press conference.
“Any reasonable patriotic person passes that information on to the security agencies for verification. You don’t hold a press conference,” he noted.
Dr Pratt argued that the seriousness of alleged narcotics manufacturing should make verification and investigation the priority, particularly when the party itself acknowledged that state security institutions had the capacity to establish whether the information was credible.
He also criticised the publication of unverified claims, stressing that journalists and other public communicators have a responsibility to verify information before putting it before the public.
“Putting out false information is a criminal offence,” he said, adding that journalists are expected to verify information before publication.
Dr Pratt said he was particularly concerned by what he described as a “cavalier attitude” towards an allegation involving an issue as serious as narcotics production.
His comments come after NPP National Organiser Henry Nana Boakye alleged at a September 22 press conference that drug traffickers had established bases and clandestine laboratories in Ghana to process illicit drugs for export. The NPP has linked its concerns to recent drug seizures involving Ghana-linked consignments.
The allegations have since triggered calls for the NPP to provide security agencies with the intelligence underpinning its claims. NDC Deputy National Director of Elections and IT, Rashid Tanko-Computer, has said security agencies may invite members of the NPP to provide further details, including the locations of the alleged laboratories and those behind them.
