Ghana's Ministry of Foreign Affairs has interdicted two officials involved in passport processing and cancelled 10 service passports, amid allegations
Ghana’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs has interdicted two officials involved in passport processing and cancelled 10 service passports, amid allegations that some diplomatic and service passports were issued on the basis of false or inaccurate job titles.
The opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP) has accused the government of granting diplomatic and service passports to six people who, it claims, misrepresented their public service positions to obtain the travel documents.
The party has taken its concerns to the United States Embassy in Accra. In a petition presented by its General Secretary, Justin Kodua Frimpong, the NPP urged the embassy to refuse visas and diplomatic courtesies to any passport holder who cannot substantiate the official position declared in their application.
According to the NPP, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs approved the passports on the strength of job titles linked to the National Disaster Management Organisation (NADMO) and the Fisheries Commission. The party further claims that some of those positions do not exist at all, while others are not held by the individuals named in the applications.
Diplomatic and service passports are normally reserved for government officials and others travelling on state business, and they often come with privileges such as easier visa processing and special courtesies at foreign missions. This is why the opposition says the alleged misuse requires urgent scrutiny.
The petition to the US Embassy calls on the mission to act on holders who fail to prove the positions they declared. The NPP’s move extends the matter beyond Ghana’s borders and puts pressure on both the government and foreign missions to verify the credentials of those presenting such documents.
The Foreign Ministry’s decision to interdict the two passport officials and cancel 10 service passports is widely read as an acknowledgement of lapses in the issuance process, although the details of the Ministry’s investigation have yet to be fully disclosed.
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