Cocaine Scandal Goes To Court

In August of 2006, the Ghanaian media in all forms, was absorbed with the ‘cocaine scandal’. The actual scandal was surrounding 76 packages of cocaine, valued at 4 million US dollars (36,400,000,000 Cedis). This illegal shipment had been confiscated by police, but it went missing in their custody.

The drama was magnified when a ‘secretly recorded’ tape surfaced, containing the voices of a high ranking police official, some major business men, and other police officers. An arrangement to find the ‘missing’ cocaine and divide the profits from it’s sale was recorded on the tape.

Soon, connections to the Ashanti King and the President and high ranking members of the ruling party began to be made. Though the accusations have been denied and stifled, many are aware of how complicated the web of cocaine money in Ghana is.

Over the weeks of top story coverage that this issue received, there was also an exploration of Ghana’s role in the international drug trade. Presentations were made which showed the nation to be part of a gateway for cocaine from Latin American and heroin from Asia to make it’s way into Southern Europe.

Six months later, the tape in question was finally played in court.

That day I had been walking along the beach road of old Accra after an appointment at the Ghana@50 office. The avenue is lined with national monuments: Independence Square, the Independence monument, Kwame Nkrumah Memorial Park, the House of Parliament and the Supreme Court.

After passing through the tall, black metal gate, and alongside the trio of bronze busts commemorating pioneers of Ghana’s legal system, I entered the bright white building. After passing through a series of hallways and staircases, I reached a courthouse crowded in the entrance, both inside and outside of the court room.

I made my way through the crowd to an open seat near the front of the courthouse.

Sitting before a solitary judge on a bench with ten black leather chairs, were two quartets of lawyers – all of whom were dressed in black robes and wore light brown wigs, compete with curls and ponytails.

The ‘secret tape’ had just been played and the prosecution team was presenting a number of statutes to support their contention that the tape should not be considered evidence.

The defence then listed the statutes and precedents that supported the use of the tape. The debate was of critical importance, as there is no evidence strong enough to secure a conviction without it.

During the argument given by the defence, the power in the court room went off, disabling the recorder needed to keep a transcript. With ‘lights out’ becoming an unpredictable inconveinience that so many have gotten used to, the judge and the prosecution were prepared to adjourn. While discussing another possible date, the defence was persistent that they finish. Finding that there was a back-up recorder, the defnece was allowed to continue.

Part way through the debate, one man in the front of the audience had his cell phone begin to ring. The judge, annoyed by the disturbance, addressed the man.

“Ghanaians”, he said, with frustration. “The instructions were simple: I asked everyone to turn off their phones”. He continued vent on the issue, before allowing the defence to continue.

Once both sides had thoroughly expressed and contested all of the points of the issue, discussion of the next court date began. This next appearance is critical to the case, as that is the date that the judge is set to rule on whether the tape can be used a evidence. A trip to the country that the judge was making and the upcoming independence holiday and celebrations meant that they would not meet again until March 14^th.

Before adjourning from the day, the judge requested that both teams provide him with photocopies of all of the articles of law and precedent cases that they cited. He added, “Our library is not up to date. Those books you have with cases from 2002 are too new for us – I will need the copies by the weekend”.

As we all rose for the exit of the judge, I went to report the breaking news, and made an appointment to be back on March 14^th.