Foreign Affairs Minister, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, has issued a strong rebuttal to Ghana’s former Ambassador to the United States, Hajia Alima Mahama, accusing her of attempting to downplay serious findings of fraud and misconduct at the Ghana Embassy in Washington, D.C.
Mr Ablakwa, who recently ordered the closure of the embassy’s visa section, revealed that investigations uncovered a criminal scheme involving locally recruited staff, resulting in the loss of over $4.8 million.
Speaking at a press conference on Thursday, 26 June, the Minister said the government was taking decisive action based on clear evidence of large-scale corruption, not speculation or political motivation.
“Following the Parliamentary briefings that I conducted last week, the former ambassador has been making some statements and seeking to undermine the measures we have carried out, and peddling a lot of untruths about her conduct in this whole sordid affair,” Mr Ablakwa said.
He insisted that a fact-finding mission by the Ministry comprising senior officials had exposed “a litany of significant breaches of our laws, naked conflict of interest, blatant corruption, and a total lack of internal, financial and managerial control.”
“We have provided Parliament with a full report of the fact-finding mission. The levels of corruption and naked conflict of interest we unravelled were so severe that no responsible leadership could ignore them,” he stated.
Responding to claims by Hajia Mahama that the visa system was legitimate under her leadership, the Minister implied she had ignored repeated red flags.
“Perhaps the former ambassador would have preferred that, just as others refused to act for many, many years, even when this matter came to their attention—we also look the other way and do not take action,” Mr Ablakwa noted.
“But Hajia Alima Mahama must know that this is a new era. It is a reset era. We do not condone corruption. We do not tolerate naked conflict of interest, and we will not look the other way.”
The Minister emphasised the government’s resolve to sanitise the Foreign Service and restore public confidence in Ghana’s diplomatic missions.
“We will not become complicit. And we will not, by our dereliction, encourage such terrible conduct which destroys the hard-won reputation of this Ministry and Ghana’s Foreign Service,” he declared.
Mr Ablakwa’s comments reflect a growing shift towards accountability within Ghana’s foreign missions, especially as investigations into the Washington visa fraud continue to unfold.
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