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charged with conspiracy to distribute heroin in the US and
arraigned before New York District Court in Brooklyn, New
York. Following a plea bargain in March 2007 Amoateng
was sentenced to a minimal prison term of ‘120 months,
with five years’ supervised release…’ in a US district court
in Brooklyn, New York 77 . He is currently serving his term at
the Metropolitan Detention Centre in Brooklyn, New York.
The scandal prompted an investigation by Ghanaian law
enforcement officials (supported by U.K. and U.S. law
enforcement officials) into former Minister of Energy Albert
Kan Dapaah on the grounds of his possible complicity
via a charity organization run by him – the Kan Dapaah
Foundation - in MP Amoateng’s heroin trafficking venture.
Investigators with the Ghanaian Narcotics Control Board
(NACOB) discovered that a person called George Owusu,
who facilitated shipment of ceramics to the United States
on behalf of Amoateng, had also shipped ceramics from
the United States to the Kan Dapaah Foundation in
Ghana. 78 The minister had established the Foundation, to
provide education to poor students in his constituency.
Although the minister admitted to receiving donations of
ceramics and clothing from Owusu, he denied knowledge
or involvement in the drug trafficking business. However,
it is still broadly perceived that drug money was
being laundered through the Foundation. 79 Following
questioning by NACOB investigators in the Amoateng
case, Dapaah was appointed Minister of the Interior in
a sudden ministerial reshuffle by then-President John
Agyekum Kufuor, effectively stalling and discontinuing the
investigation. 80 This was significant in that the Ministry of
the Interior supervises NACOB. Also, several of the trained
NACOB personnel implicated in the case were either
dismissed or transferred to other positions and posts. 81
Even more significant was a vigorous and sustained
effort by Amoateng’s political party, the NPP, to prevent
his removal from parliament. An MP’s membership of
parliament is brought into question if he or she misses
more than five consecutive sittings without providing
77. United States of America vs Eric Amoateng, Transcript for Criminal Cause for Sentencing
Before the Honorable David G. Trager, December 21, 2007. Copy in author’s possession
78. GhanaWeb, Another NPP Big Fish in Drug Deal, March 9, 2003. Available at Interviews, Ghana,
May 2012
79. Interviews with judicial and law enforcement officials, Accra, May 2012
80. Text of Paper Presented by John Mark Pokoo at Inter-Regional Dialogue on Organized Crime
and State Capture, February 2011, Lima, Peru
81. Ibid
justifiable explanation to the Speaker of Parliament. 82
Although the then-minority NDC parliamentary caucus
was willing to impeach Amoateng for violating this
constitutional provision (due to his detention in the
U.S.) and the resulting violation of the Standing Orders
of Parliament, their counterparts in the then-majority
NPP presented a different interpretation of the provision
arguing that Amoateng could not be removed until proven
guilty by a court of competent jurisdiction. 83 Amoateng’s
removal was delayed for sixteen months, after which a byelection
was held and a new MP, also a member of the NPP,
was elected.
A number of cases in which cocaine has either disappeared
or been replaced with other substances with complicity of
senior police personnel have also been reported. Specifically,
in 2006, Ghanaian security and law enforcement officials
received intelligence that a vessel called the MV Benjamin
entering Ghanaian waters was carrying a shipment of
cocaine. Despite the notification, the officials failed to
seize the cocaine. 84 Seventy six parcels of a total of 77
cocaine parcels seized subsequently disappeared and the
vessel was set ablaze.85 Investigation by a governmentinstituted
commission of inquiry headed by Chief Justice
Georgina Woode implicated several individuals including
three of the vessel’s crewmembers as having aided the
importers and owners of the consignment. 86 Significantly,
the investigation also implicated the Ghana Police Service’s
Director of Operations, then-Assistant Commissioner of
Police (ACP) Kofi Boakye, and Detective Sergeant Samuel
Yaw Amoah of the Ghana Police Service. 87 In a secretly
recorded conversation at his house, ACP Boakye bragged
82. Article 97 (1c) of the 1992 Constitution states that, ‘A Member of Parliament shall vacate his
seat in Parliament if he is absent, without the permission in writing of the Speaker and is unable
to offer a reasonable explanation to the Parliamentary Committee on Privileges, from 15 sittings
of a meeting of Parliament during any period that Parliament has been summoned to meet and
continues to meet’
83. Aning (2007), pp. 203
84. Georgina Wood Committee Report, pp. 2. On 21 April 2006, the Narcotics Control Board was
alerted of MV ADEDE 2 vessels carrying narcotics was moving into West African waters. NACOB
was supplied with supplied with aerial photographs, after which it sought assistance from the
Ghana Air Force and the Ghana Navy to track down the vessel. The Ghana Air Force conducted
reconnaissance exercises in the hopes of locating the vessel without success. The vessel eventually
arrived at the Tema harbour on 27 April 2006 with only 1 of the 77 parcels left on it.
85. Ibid, pp. 3. Between 2-3am on 26 April, two armed fishermen ‘…collected seventy-six sacks
of cocaine from the BENJAMIN and conveyed the consignment to a landing site at KPONE.’ It was
subsequently ‘…delivered to ASEM DARKEI SHERIFF and KWAK SEONG…who had them packed
into a waiting vehicle and driven away to an unknown destination.’
86. Ibid, pp. 3-4
87. Report of Committee of Inquiry into the Police CID and NACOB Petition to the Chief Justice
Over ‘Washing Soda Cocaine’, (pp. 4.). Available at http://media.myjoyonline.com/docs/201201/
FINAL%20REPORT%20OF%20THE%20COMMITTEE%20ON%20THE%20ISSUE%20OF%20
COCAINE%20TURNING%20TO%20WASHING%20SODA.pdf (Accessed May 29, 2012)
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