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The Nayele Ametefe
scandal: NDC IS STILL DAZED
The Wednesday 14th January press conference
by Asiedu Nketiah, General Secretary of NDC,
on the Nayele Ametefe cocaine scandal should
be seen by all objective Ghanaians as a
desperate attempt to escape the hard
questions that government must answer in
connection with this scandal.
Mr. Asiedu Nketia makes false claims against
the NPP:
1. That the NPP had posted a picture of a
known NDC lady and tagged her as Nayele
Ametefe. The NPP did no such thing. We also
saw pictures on social media. We have
nothing to do with those pictures. Aseidu
Nketiah’s confusion is shown by his
statement that, “Mrs. Ruby Adu Gyamfi of NDC
swiftly responded with a press conference…”
We hasten to add that the name Ruby Adu
Gyamfi is one of the known aliases of Nayele
Ametefi, who at that material time was in
custody in Britain and could not have been
responding to the NPP with a press
conference.
2. Asiedu Nketiah accuses the NPP of
claiming Nayele travelled with a diplomatic
passport. This is also false. Nowhere in the
NPP’s 7th January statement did we make this
claim. Indeed we also read the claims from
the media including the Austrian newspapers
online.
3. Asiedu Nketiah accuses the NPP of
alleging that Nayele traveled through the
VVIP at Kotoka International airport. This
is also false. Indeed, the Attorney
General’s charge sheet against some
individuals arrested in connection with this
matter stated, “VVIP”. Testimony from one
Alhaji Dawud who had been arrested also
indicated that Nayele travelled through the
VVIP.
4. Asiedu Nketiah accuses the NPP of linking
staff of the Ghana High Commission in London
to the scandal. This is also false. Nowhere
in the NPP statement, was this accusation
made. We had asked if it was a mere
co-incidence that a diplomatic car was at
the tarmac at the airport, to pick someone
at the time of Nayele Ametefe’s arrest on
the aircraft.
5. Asiedu Nketiah pathetically recites the
allegation that three (3) NPP women from
Dzowulu Accra were arrested with cocaine in
2002. That allegation was made by an NDC
newspaper and it has not been proven up till
today.
6. The pathetic allegations continue with
the arrest and conviction of former NPP MP
for Nkoranza North, Eric Amoateng.
Amoateng’s salary was rightly paid until he
was convicted. The NDC’s General Secretary
should know that an accused person on trial
is not the same as a convicted person.
The claim that Amoateng passed through VIP
at the Kotoka Airport neglects the fact that
as a Member of Parliament, Eric Amoateng was
entitled to use the VIP. The records also do
not show that Amoateng carried cocaine
through the Kotoka International airport.
The person who was heard on national radio
calling for a warm reception for Amoateng on
his return, was the NDC DCE for Nkoranza
North.
7. Asiedu Nketia brazenly accuses the NPP of
de-confiscation of properties of convicted
drug barons. It would have been helpful to
the nation if the NDC General Secretary had
mentioned the names of the drug barons whose
properties were de-confiscated.
8. Asiedu Nketia makes references to
wiki-leaks allegations. He conveniently
forgets wiki-leaks allegations about
President Mills’ remarks on complicity of
members of his own government in using the
VVIP for narcotic business.
9. The NDC’s General Secretary’s claims that
the NPP did not pass any legislation against
narcotics. This is another lie. Over three
hundred (300) narcotic cases had not been
prosecuted before 2001 because the suspects,
upon bail, simply run-away from the country.
The NPP amended (the law)legislation to make
narcotics a non-bailable offence, and that
made Ghana an unattractive destination for
narcotics.
It will be of interest to Asiedu Nketiah and
the NDC that the NPP in collaboration with
the British introduced Operation Westbridge,
which led to successful arrests of narcotic
traffickers at the Kotoka Airport.
10. Asiedu Nketiah’s attempt to link Nayele
Ametefe’s cocaine smuggling to a supposed
NPP fundraising event in London is at best
pathetic and desperate.
Despite Asiedu Nketiah’s desperation, the
following questions still remain;
1. How was Nayele able to access the VVIP/
Presidential Transit lounge at Kotoka
Airport?
2. How did she carry undetected, 12kg of
cocaine in her hand luggage through the VVIP/
Presidential Transit lounge?
3. What gave her the confidence that she
would be able to go through the Heathrow
Airport with 12k of Cocaine in her hand
luggage? Or did she not plan to go through
the airport, but similarly, use the VIP at
Heathrow airport as she had done at Kotoka?
4. Why was she arrested on the air craft and
not allowed to disembark? Did the British
authorities not believe that she will go
through the airport?
5. Is it coincidence that there was a
Ghanaian diplomatic car on the tarmac to
pick someone and thus not go through the
airport. ?
6. Why the seeming confusion among organs of
government such as NACOB over collaboration,
and the Attorney General and Ministry of
Communications on whether she used the VVIP
or not?
7. Why has government shown no interest in
uncovering the names of Nayele Ametefe’s
powerful backers in Ghana?
These questions are still crying for
answers.
…Signed…
Nana Akomea
(Communications Director)
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