"Parliament Does Not Conduct Criminal Probes": Agalga Backs Rejection of Narcotics Inquiry Motion.

ACCRA — A fierce constitutional debate has erupted in the Parliament of Ghana after Speaker Alban Bagbin officially dismissed a high-profile motion by the Minority bloc demanding a sweeping parliamentary inquiry into recent international narcotics seizures. The decision, delivered on Tuesday, September 29, effectively shut down the opposition's attempt to establish an Ad Hoc Committee to investigate institutional lapses following a series of massive drug busts linked to Ghanaian shipping routes.

The push for a legislative probe followed growing public concern over border security, but Speaker Bagbin ruled the motion inadmissible in limine (at the threshold). In his formal ruling, the Speaker cited a string of parliamentary rules—including Standing Orders 5, 6, 103, Rule F, Order 192, and Order 233—stating that the requested inquiry directly contravened the established operational parameters of the House.

Backing the Speaker's decision, Majority Leader James Agalga strongly rebuked the Minority’s strategy during a live interview on TV3 Ghana's Ghana Tonight. Agalga argued that the opposition's demand was entirely premature and threatened to cross a dangerous constitutional line. "Parliament does not conduct criminal investigations; it has never happened," Agalga stated, emphasizing that the legislative arm of government lacks both the statutory mandate and the operational machinery to act as a parallel police force.

Agalga revealed that state security apparatuses are already managing a comprehensive, fast-moving crackdown, noting that close to 20 suspects have already been arrested, arraigned, and remanded by law courts. The Majority Leader cautioned that allowing politicians to run a concurrent investigation into active criminal files would create total institutional chaos, likely leading to contradictory findings, compromised evidence, and unlawful interference with judicial proceedings.

The Minority's dismissed motion, spearheaded by First Deputy Minority Whip Habib Iddrisu, had sought to scrutinize the state’s handling of narcotics tracking. The urgency of their demand was fuelled by a massive international bust on September 10, when French Customs seized 3.9 metric tonnes of cocaine hidden inside a shipping container at Dunkirk, a haul valued at a staggering US$261 million that reportedly originated from Ghanaian waters.

Despite the shocking scale of the international seizure, the government maintains that the judiciary and statutory security agencies must be left alone to do their jobs without political theatre. Agalga concluded that the Ghana Police Service and related specialized anti-narcotics units are actively executing their mandates, and that the ultimate fate of the accused now rests securely under the purview of the courts.