The New Patriotic Party (NPP) has escalated its criticism of Foreign Affairs Minister Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa over alleged irregularities in the issuance of Ghanaian service passports, accusing him of having knowledge of, and facilitating, an arrangement involving unqualified applicants and private travel agents.
The party has rejected the minister’s account of the controversy, particularly his assertion that preliminary investigations have uncovered an illegal passport issuance scheme dating back to 2023.
The NPP’s National Communications Director, Dennis Miracles Aboagye, insists that the allegations relate to activities that occurred under the current administration in 2026 and involve officials appointed to key positions at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Speaking at a press conference organised by the Minority in Parliament on Sunday, November 8, 2026, Mr Aboagye alleged that the minister’s handling of the matter is an attempt to shift responsibility to junior officers while shielding senior officials whose decisions, he claimed, enabled the alleged activities.
He called for an independent parliamentary investigation, arguing that the minister should not be allowed to oversee an inquiry into allegations involving officials under his supervision.
A major part of the NPP’s allegations centres on the appointment of Mahama Yaya Amantana as Director of Passports.
Mr Aboagye claimed that Mr Amantana had been dismissed from the Civil Service in 2024 but was subsequently reinstated by Mr Ablakwa and appointed to head the Passport Office.
He further alleged that the appointment was inconsistent with the requirements of the Civil Service structure and the applicable Foreign Affairs regulations, insisting that Mr Amantana did not qualify for the position.
According to the NPP communicator, the appointment raises questions about the minister’s role in the developments that allegedly unfolded at the Passport Office.
He also alleged that Mr Amantana subsequently established a travel and tour arrangement and engaged private individuals, including Ibrahim Wale and Bright Owusu, as agents.
Mr Aboagye claimed that the arrangement enabled the agents to receive payments from individuals seeking to obtain service passports.
He argued that the alleged activities could not reasonably be treated as the independent actions of junior employees, given the involvement of individuals occupying senior positions within the ministry.
Mr Aboagye also challenged the minister’s assertion that an illegal service passport issuance scheme had been operating since 2023.
He argued that the officials identified in the minister’s statement could not have been responsible for activities dating back to that period because they were either not occupying the positions in question or were not employees of the ministry at the time.
He specifically cited Mr Amantana, who, according to him, was not the Director of Passports in 2023, and Alhassan Sumani, whom he claimed was not working at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs during that period.
The NPP communications director questioned the basis for linking the current officials to an alleged operation that predated their involvement in the ministry.
He described the minister’s explanation as misleading, maintaining that the allegations currently under scrutiny concerned activities allegedly carried out in 2026.
Mr Aboagye further accused the minister of presenting the issue as an inherited problem to deflect attention from developments that allegedly occurred under his administration.
The NPP communicator further questioned the decision to identify Mr Sumani as a principal figure in the alleged scheme, claiming that evidence gathered by a committee constituted to examine the matter pointed to instructions from the Director of Passports.
According to Mr Aboagye, WhatsApp exchanges allegedly obtained during the committee’s work showed Mr Amantana directing the junior officer to facilitate the collection and handling of passport-related documents.
He claimed that Mr Sumani’s involvement was largely limited to carrying out instructions from his superior, particularly when Mr Wale visited the Passport Office.
Mr Aboagye alleged that on such occasions, the director instructed the junior officer to contact his secretary to facilitate the collection of the relevant documents.
He consequently questioned why a junior officer was being portrayed as the principal architect of the alleged arrangement when, according to him, the available evidence pointed to the involvement of the Director of Passports.
He challenged Mr Ablakwa to release the committee’s report to enable the public to examine its findings and determine the respective roles of the officials implicated.
Mr Aboagye also disputed the list of names presented by the Foreign Affairs Minister as part of the ministry’s findings into the alleged irregular issuance of service passports.
He claimed that the list was not a new discovery arising from the current investigation but rather contained individuals whose service passports had been recalled in 2025 and subsequently cancelled after they failed to return the documents.
According to him, Mr Ablakwa initiated a recall of service passports in March 2025 and later announced that passports not returned to the ministry had been cancelled and placed on a stop list.
Mr Aboagye said the ministry published a list of the affected passports in May 2025.
He alleged that the minister had relied on the same list in his latest statement to give the impression that the ministry had uncovered individuals who fraudulently obtained service passports through the scheme currently under investigation.
The NPP maintained that the cancellation of previously issued passports should not be presented as evidence of a newly uncovered illegal issuance operation without establishing the circumstances surrounding each case.
The NPP communications director also disputed the minister’s account of the circumstances that triggered the latest investigation.
He identified a petition allegedly submitted by Mr and Mrs Ahinsan on October 8, 2026, as the complaint currently being relied upon by the ministry.
According to Mr Aboagye, the couple complained that they had paid money to individuals associated with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to facilitate the acquisition of service passports and United States visas.
He claimed that although the couple had received their service passports, they had waited several weeks for the expected US visas and were subsequently unable to reach the individuals with whom they had dealt.
Mr Aboagye said the couple then petitioned the ministry, demanding that the outstanding visas be provided or their money refunded.
He maintained that the complaint related to transactions involving passports issued in 2026 and therefore questioned the minister’s attempt to link the investigation to an operation dating back to 2023.
Mr Aboagye said the NPP has obtained a copy of the petition and insisted that its contents should form part of the public discussion surrounding the controversy.
He argued that the ministry owes Ghanaians a clear explanation of the circumstances surrounding the complaint and the alleged transactions.
Beyond the service passport allegations, Mr Aboagye raised questions about 24 passport booklets and four diplomatic passports reportedly linked to the controversy.
He questioned how the minister could establish that diplomatic passports were not involved in the alleged activities while maintaining that he had no prior knowledge of the scheme.
According to him, the minister’s ability to provide specific details about the documents raises further questions about what he knew about the operations of the Passport Office.
He argued that the issue requires a broader investigation into the administrative processes through which service and diplomatic passports were issued, as well as the possible involvement of officials at different levels.
Mr Aboagye also warned that the NPP has additional concerns about the Ministry of Foreign Affairs that would be made public in the coming days.
He said the party has gathered what he described as documentary and electronic evidence, including hard copies and digital records, to support further allegations.
The NPP has thrown its support behind the Minority in Parliament’s demand for a comprehensive investigation into the alleged passport irregularities.
Mr Aboagye called on the Speaker of Parliament to consider the request by the Ranking Member and other members of the Foreign Affairs Committee for a full parliamentary inquiry.
He argued that an investigation conducted solely through a committee established by the minister would not sufficiently address public concerns, particularly because the allegations involve officials appointed or supervised by him.
According to the NPP communicator, the minister cannot be the sole authority presenting findings on a matter in which he has himself been accused of complicity.
The party is therefore backing calls for Parliament to independently examine the allegations, establish the facts and determine whether any officials abused their positions in the administration of Ghana’s passport system.
The controversy has intensified following the Foreign Affairs Ministry’s announcement of preliminary findings and the interdiction of officials allegedly implicated in irregularities surrounding the issuance of service passports.
However, the NPP’s latest claims have broadened the political dimension of the matter, shifting attention from the alleged conduct of individual officers to questions surrounding appointments, ministerial oversight and accountability within the ministry.
The allegations against Mr Ablakwa, Mr Amantana and the other individuals named by Mr Aboagye have not been independently established. The minister’s response to the specific claims concerning his alleged involvement, the appointment of the Director of Passports and the October 8 petition will be important in determining the full circumstances of the controversy.
An independent parliamentary inquiry, if approved, could provide an opportunity to examine the available documentary evidence, establish the facts and determine the extent of responsibility, if any, among officials involved in the passport administration process.
By 1960news.com
