Save the Republic Pressure Group has questioned the government’s decision not to identify officials allegedly implicated in the US$208 million methamphetamine shipment seized in Australia.
The group’s Convener, private legal practitioner Kwesi Botchway Jnr, said the Interior Minister, Mohammed-Mubarak Muntaka, had disclosed in Parliament that preliminary investigations into the shipment had uncovered the possible involvement of government officials.
According to Mr Botchway, the Minister also indicated that several officials were being interrogated in connection with the shipment, which involved approximately 320kg of methamphetamine concealed in charcoal and traced to Ghana.
“Why is the government suddenly reluctant to identify the officials it says were implicated in a US$208 million methamphetamine shipment?” he asked at a press conference.
He demanded answers on the identities of the officials questioned, their roles in the shipment and whether any had been interdicted, suspended, removed, arrested or charged.
“If the Government has cleared them, they should tell us,” he said, arguing that investigations should not become a permanent justification for withholding information from the public.
Mr Botchway said the group was particularly concerned because the Interior Minister’s disclosure came from the government itself and not from an opposition party or external source.
The Save the Republic Pressure Group has subsequently called for the officials allegedly implicated in the shipment to be named and investigated.