The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, has announced a sweeping crackdown on corruption at the country’s embassy in Washington, D.C., including the dismissal of a staff member accused of operating an illegal visa processing scheme.
In a Facebook post on Monday, May 26, the Foreign Affairs Minister also announced the temporary closure of the embassy.
He noted that an investigation conducted revealed that a local staff member, Mr. Fred Kwarteng, had secretly diverted visa and passport applicants to his private firm, Ghana Travel Consultants (GTC), over the past five years.
Kwarteng, hired in 2017 to work in the embassy’s IT department, reportedly created an unauthorized link on the embassy’s official website, rerouting unsuspecting applicants to his business. There, he charged between US$29.75 and US$60 in unapproved fees, revenue he kept entirely for personal gain.
According to the Minister, Kwarteng admitted to his actions during a probe conducted by a special audit team established months earlier.
The scheme, which evaded parliamentary and ministerial scrutiny, has now been referred to the Attorney-General for possible prosecution and recovery of funds.
In a decisive move to restore integrity at the mission, Minister Ablakwa announced several measures including; immediate dismissal of Fred Kwarteng, recall of all Ministry of Foreign Affairs staff at the Washington embassy, suspension of all locally recruited staff, complete dissolution of the embassy’s IT department, invitation of the Auditor-General to conduct a forensic audit and temporary closure of the embassy to complete a systems overhaul.
