NACOB workers commend management

Some workers of the Narcotics Control Board (NACOB) have commended the current management of the organisation for the increased development and advancement in making their operations more efficient.

They praised the managers, led by the acting Executive Secretary, Mr Francis Kofi Torkornoo, the current acting Executive Secretary (AES) who has been in office for less than two years.

To them, the lead agency responsible for controlling the influx of illicit drug trafficking and usage in Ghana has seen improvement in the areas of increased infrastructure, logistics, human resource advancement and the gradual rebranding of NACOB into a world-class institution.

Narcotics Control Commission Bill

Mr Torkornoo, according to the workers, was one of the advocates when the Narcotics Control Commission Bill was taken to Parliament in 2015 and worked with the Interior Ministry, Parliament and other stakeholders to ensure its passage in 2019.

Infrastructure

Some of the remarkable successes chalked up by the current management, according to the workers, included the renovation of the headquarters of NACOB and the construction of a one-storey block to serve as an investigative suite for the Investigation Department.

Another milestone, which they claimed had received wide applause by all partners, especially in Europe, was the building of a seven-unit modern kennel to shelter the NACOB operational dogs.
The kennel has provided the K-9 Unit an operational base from which the operational dogs would be deployed to their duty post.

Again the workers said through the efforts of Mr Torkornoo an office accommodation had been acquired for the Elubo Border Post in the Western Region which hitherto did not have an office for effective daily activities.

Additionally, they said Mr Torkornoo had encouraged the acquisition of lands for proposed office accommodation for some regional commands in the Central, Northern and Brong Ahafo regions.

Logistics

In terms of logistics, the workers said Mr Torkornoo sought assistance from one of NACOB’s international partners for the acquisition of 66 air conditioner units to replace all the outmoded ones at the headquarters.

Through the efforts of the acting executive secretary of NACOB, last year, NACOB, they said, received 20 brand-new desktop computers from the Ministry of the Interior to enhance the efficiency of work at the agency.

Regional Commands

Prior to his assumption as the acting Executive Secretary, the workers said the regional commands were bedevilled with huge sums of debts due to irregular allocation of imprest to run the regional offices but that had changed.

Not only has Mr Torkornoo maintained regular imprest disbursement to the regional commands, but has also increased the allocation of the imprest to the regional commands by 75 per cent since the middle of this year.

“For the first time in several years in December 2017, officers received a handsome Christmas package,” said one of the NACOB officers.

They, however, appealed to the President to ensure that the Narcotics Control Commission Bill was passed into law.

When passed, they said the bill would give NACOB the leverage with other security and intelligence agencies in terms of modus operandi.