Majority Leader in Parliament, James Agalga, has said a parliamentary investigation into the recent cocaine bust is unnecessary at this stage, arguing that law enforcement agencies must be allowed to complete their ongoing investigations.
His comments follow the Minority’s call for a parliamentary probe into the cocaine busts, after French authorities intercepted a large consignment of suspected cocaine believed to have originated from Ghana. The Minority has described the development as raising serious national security concerns.
Speaking in an interview on Joy FM’s Newsnight on Thursday, Mr Agalga noted that several arrests have already been made, with some suspects arraigned before court and remanded.
He questioned the need for Parliament to begin a separate investigation while the security agencies are still working on the case.
“When accused persons are remanded by the court, what it means is that investigations are ongoing. If Parliament intervenes by embarking upon yet another round of investigation, you would now have a situation whereby you have investigations conducted by separate bodies or more concurrently, which would then result in an absurd situation where you possibly have different outcomes,” he said.
Mr Agalga cautioned that conflicting findings from parallel investigations could create uncertainty over which conclusions should be relied upon.
He noted that law enforcement agencies have already seized cocaine in some cases and taken appropriate samples as part of their investigations.
“Some cocaine has been seized and in some cases samples, appropriate samples taken, and a larger volume, probably a kilogramme of those samples, has been seized,” he said.
The Majority Leader maintained that Parliament should wait until the security agencies have completed their investigative work before considering any further action.
“So while security agencies are investigating, I think that cannot be invoked at this stage. You wait when the law enforcement agencies have completed their investigative activities,” he said.
