Speaker of Parliament, Alban Sumana Kingsford Bagbin, has summoned Parliament to sit on Tuesday, September 29, 2026, at 12 noon at Parliament House in Accra. The notice, issued on Thursday, September 24, did not specify the particular business to be considered by the House during the extraordinary sitting. This move comes amid growing calls for parliamentary scrutiny of recent major narcotics seizures linked to Ghana.
The summons follows a petition by the Minority in Parliament, submitted on behalf of the Minority Caucus by Habib Iddrisu, the First Deputy Minority Whip and Member of Parliament for Tolon. The petition, dated September 18, cited urgent national security concerns arising from a series of major drug seizures involving consignments linked to Ghana. The petitioners claimed to have secured the support of at least 15 per cent of Members of Parliament required under Article 112(3) of the 1992 Constitution.
At the centre of the petition is the seizure by French customs authorities of nearly 3.9 tonnes of cocaine at the Port of Dunkirk on September 10, 2026. The cocaine was concealed in a container of plastic waste that had arrived in France from Ghana. French authorities valued the consignment at about €225 million, or roughly US$260 million. The Minority argues that this incident raises questions about the security and integrity of Ghana’s ports and export systems.
The Minority is seeking answers on how the container was processed, inspected, cleared, and exported from Ghana, including the port or facility from which it departed. They also want information on the companies and institutions involved in processing and clearing the consignment, the status of investigations and arrests, and the extent of cooperation between Ghanaian authorities and their French and other international counterparts.
The Minority has placed the French seizure in the context of several other narcotics-related incidents since 2025. These include the reported seizure of more than 3.3 tonnes of cocaine at Pedu Junction in Cape Coast in March 2025, and another consignment of about 120 slabs of cocaine allegedly intercepted along the Takoradi-Cape Coast Highway. In August 2026, authorities seized 866 parcels of suspected cocaine concealed in sacks of gari at a warehouse within the Tema Harbour enclave.
The demand for parliamentary scrutiny has received support from some civil society and academic voices. Dr Joshua Ebuntie Zaato, a Senior Lecturer at the University of Ghana’s Department of Political Science, has argued that Parliament’s oversight role could provide an additional avenue for examining information surrounding the seizures and the response of the various security agencies. However, there are differing views on whether an extraordinary sitting is necessary.
With the Speaker now summoning the House for September 29, attention will turn to the business that will be placed before Parliament and whether the extraordinary sitting will lead to a formal parliamentary inquiry into the recent narcotics-related incidents. The sitting will also provide an opportunity for Parliament to seek clarification from relevant institutions on the circumstances surrounding the Ghana-linked consignments and the measures being taken to strengthen the country’s border, port, and narcotics-control systems.
Key points
- The Ghanaian Parliament will convene an extraordinary sitting on September 29, 2026, to address concerns over recent major narcotics seizures linked to the country.
- The seizures have raised questions about the security and integrity of Ghana’s ports and export systems, customs controls, intelligence gathering, and the effectiveness of narcotics enforcement.
- The extraordinary sitting may lead to a formal parliamentary inquiry into the recent narcotics-related incidents and the response of the various security agencies.
