Yaw Akrasi Sarpong ? NACOB Boss
?The frown on the face of the goat will not stop it from being taken to the market??Nigerian proverb.
I hate to tell you I told you so, for it will seem as if I?m gloating. But the reality is that what I told you some months back has come to pass. So whether I hate it or not, I?m compelled to say it. Abusuapanin, I told you so.
Do I therefore think I?m a prophet? Nah! I can neither claim to be a prophet nor a clairvoyant. For sure, one did not need prophetic powers to predict the obvious. All one needed was common sense; and common sense is common to all, isn?t it? It is therefore shocking that those under the eagle-headed Umbrella could not see the boldly-written letters on the wall.
I had the occasion to tell you to take anything Akrasi Sarpong, the Executive Secretary of Narcotics Control Board (NACOB), says with a pinch of salt. I even went further to tell you he is but a toothless bulldog whose only competence is barking. I formed this opinion of him during the ?I-have-a-list? saga.
If you would recall, somewhere last year Akrasi Sarpong came out shouting ?eureka, eureka?. When asked what he had found, he told the whole world that he was in possession of a list which had names of drug barons and politicians who used drug cowries to fund their political campaigns.
We all joined Akrasi Sarpong to jubilate. We jubilated with him because it was great news. The effects of narcotic drugs are so disastrous that no country worth its salt would allow its shores to be used as a transit or destination point. Certainly, all persons with conscience will not hesitate to rejoice when drug barons are identified by the right authorities.
We were therefore taken aback when instead of producing the list, he showed an empty hand. Listen to him: ?I have the list but I will not name any names. I dare them to go to court if they have any problem. My work is not politician?s work and no politician can force me to mention any names.?
Obviously, his response was nebulous and infantile, for no one forced him to tell the world that he had any list in the first place. It was then I came to the conclusion that the man was only barking. And have recent events not proved me right?
Akrasi Sarpong was made boss of NACOB to act, not nag. He was given teeth by the law to bite and not bark. He is being paid by the state to chase drug dealers and nip their business in the bud. Those who therefore called for his head for failing to bite were more than justified in doing so.
Unfortunately, the Zu-za government saw things very differently. They thought only barking could do the trick so they urged him on. Realizing that members of his party enjoyed the unpleasant sound, it spurred him on to bark like a rabbis-infested dog. Now and then he opens his toothless mouth and tells me and my compatriots that this country has become a no-go area for drug dealers; when in reality he was doing nothing to fight the menace.
But the messy faecal matter stashed in his anus was exposed when, within two days the British authorities intercepted over $10million worth of drugs smuggled from this country through the Kotoka International Airport. What even makes his anus messier is the revelation that the officials who helped in smuggling the narcotic drugs to the UK were appointed under this administration.
A few days later, a 58-year-old Jamaican, Wesley Appleton, was arrested for cultivating large acreage of cannabis (wee) in a village in the Alavanyo-Nkonya District of the Volta Region. Confirmed report from the police says the farm is the largest in the history of the country.
While commending the security and NACOB officials for the arrest, the point has to be made that the arrest could have been made earlier if the relevant agencies had been alive to their responsibilities. Any honest person who knows the Alavanyo- Nkonya area very well will tell you Appleton?s farm is just the tip of the iceberg. It is therefore a wonder that Akrasi Sarpong and his charges claim not to be aware of the situation.
Now we are being told another joke. Akrasi Sarpong is contemplating resigning his position as head of NACOB. You heard well, Abusuapanin. The failed NACOB boss has not resigned, but is only contemplating taking that action.
Trust me; it is only in countries like ours that you will find Akrasi Sarpong and his kind. In countries where governance is taken seriously, the ?I-have-a-list? debacle would have led to his sack. But here we are; a man who has publicly admitted that he had failed in his mission to fight the drug trade is still at post drinking pito. He has been left at post to continue barking. Land of jokers indeed!
To lampoon Kwame Pianim, any idiot can open his mouth wide and claim to be fighting the drug trade. But the reality on the ground is that toothless bulldogs can only bark. And we all know that barking can never scare away drug barons. Is it therefore not foolhardiness to leave Akrasi Sarpong at the helm of affairs to continue barking?
As for Akrasi Sarpong, he himself knows by now that he has overstayed his welcome at NACOB. The best and most rational action for him to take is to resign. After all, he who has diarrhoea knows the direction of the door without being told. But hey, is it not also true that a fool who has diarrhoea will mess himself up in the room, even if he knows the direction of the door?
May the Bearded Old Man above have mercy on this country!
