Speaker of Parliament Alban Sumana Kingsford Bagbin has ruled inadmissible a Private Member’s Motion seeking a parliamentary inquiry into a series of major narcotics seizures involving consignments linked to Ghana.
The decision was delivered during Parliament’s emergency sitting on Tuesday, September 29, 2026, after the House was recalled from recess amid calls for parliamentary scrutiny of the circumstances surrounding the seizures. The motion had been filed by the First Deputy Minority Whip and Member of Parliament for Tolon, Habib Iddrisu, and sought the establishment of an Ad Hoc Committee to examine the matters.
In delivering his ruling, Mr Bagbin said he had carefully examined the substance of the motion, its proposed terms of reference, the investigations already underway and the judicial proceedings pending before the courts. He also considered Parliament’s constitutional oversight mandate alongside the relevant provisions of the House’s Standing Orders.
The Speaker said his assessment had revealed substantial factual similarities between the matters the proposed parliamentary committee intended to investigate and issues that were already before the courts.
According to him, allowing the parliamentary inquiry to proceed could require lawmakers to scrutinise transactions, evaluate the conduct of individuals and institutions involved and determine the reasons behind particular decisions taken or resisted at Ghana’s ports and other points of entry and exit.
He consequently raised concerns that such an exercise could ultimately lead Parliament into determining questions that properly fall within the jurisdiction of a court of competent jurisdiction.
Mr Bagbin explained that the proposed investigation would involve an extensive evaluation of circumstances surrounding the narcotics consignments and the conduct of relevant actors, thereby creating the possibility that Parliament could reach conclusions on matters awaiting judicial determination.
“The combined effect of undertaking this evaluation, assessment, and investigation would be, at the end of the day, to determine the very issues that the Court of Competent Jurisdiction is supposed to determine,” the Speaker stated.
The Speaker further expressed concern that permitting the parliamentary process to continue could prejudice the interests of parties involved in the ongoing court proceedings.
On that basis, Mr Bagbin concluded that the motion could not be allowed to proceed in its existing form. He therefore invoked the relevant provisions of Parliament’s Standing Orders and formally ruled the motion inadmissible.
“I therefore rule, pursuant to Standing Orders 5, 6, and 103, Sub Rule F, that the Party Member’s motion is inadmissible,” Mr Bagbin declared.
The motion had been introduced against the backdrop of heightened concern over several significant narcotics interceptions involving consignments connected to Ghana. Among the incidents cited by its sponsors was the seizure of nearly 3.9 tonnes of suspected cocaine at the French port of Dunkirk on September 10, 2026, from a container that had departed Ghana. The proposed inquiry also sought to examine other narcotics seizures and the processes through which consignments were handled at Ghanaian ports.
The proposed parliamentary investigation was intended to examine how the consignments were processed, inspected and cleared before leaving Ghana. It also sought scrutiny of scanning arrangements, physical inspections, intelligence profiling and the involvement of relevant companies and state institutions.
The motion further sought examination of security infrastructure at Ghana’s ports, airports and other entry and exit points, including surveillance systems, scanning technology and intelligence capabilities. It also called for scrutiny of arrests, prosecutions and cooperation between Ghanaian authorities and international law enforcement agencies.
The Speaker’s ruling means that the proposed inquiry will not proceed to the committee stage in its current form. The decision followed an extraordinary parliamentary sitting that had been convened after the Minority petitioned for the House to examine the narcotics seizures and their implications for Ghana’s security and border control systems.
The ruling has already generated a response from Minority Leader Alexander Afenyo Markin, who has rejected the Speaker’s reasoning and challenged the basis upon which the motion was dismissed.
