Korle Bu ‘Doctor’ Vanishes

An imposter, claiming to be a doctor working with Ghana's premier teaching hospital, Korle Bu, has disappeared following The Statesman's uncovering of various cases of illegal acquisition of Ghanaian passports for foreigners, and a subsequent attempt by the Passport Office to bring him to book.

'Michael Buah', the 'medical doctor' is on record to have endorsed multiple passport forms for applicants, especially foreigners to acquire Ghanaian passports, which have become a hot commodity for West African nationals in terms of facilitating entry into Europe and the Americas.

Our sources at the Passport Office allege that Buah has endorsed numerous passport forms for clients using a contrived Korle Bu Teaching Hospital stamp embossed with the name and identity of a qualified medical doctor.

But, when The Statesman did a check, it established that Korle Bu does not have on its records any doctor by that name. After The Statesman had gone to cross-check some facts at the Passport Office, a telephone call was made by the Director of Passports, Parker Allotey who invited Mr Buah to his office for some discussions. He however failed to turn up.

Calls subsequently placed to his phone number 024-371 5306 by The Statesman in a bid to source more information from the 'medical officer' as to his alleged activities failed to yield any results.
In one of several cases being investigated by The Statesman, Mr Buah, himself suspected to be of foreign descent, has facilitated the acquisition of a Ghanaian passport for another lady of Nigerian descent [name withheld] and her boyfriend, also a Nigerian who arrived in the country about six months ago on a visit.

Through interaction with other Nigerians here in Ghana, the couple had gotten to know how easy it was to acquire Ghanaian passports. A few days later, the two decided to apply for the traveling document through a 'connection man.'Now known as Mary Ashiley, a trader aged twenty-four, the Nigerian lady was issued with a Ghanaian passport on September 4, 2006, based on a Ghanaian birth certificate The Statesman sighted. The birth certificate was issued by an employee at the Births and Deaths Registry at Adjabeng Registry, Accra, and was dated July 21, 2006 with entry number 1480.

An agent, simply known as Kobby, intimated that since the Crusading Guide's publication on passport deals at the Passport Office some few months ago, the 'service charge' has shot up sharply, whilst the modus operandi of agents and contractors have been reviewed.

The 'express' acquisition of the passport now ranges between ¢700,000 and ¢1m excluding costs on procuring a birth certificate, we were told. Because the procedure for one to obtain a birth certificate is so lax, non-Ghanaians are able to obtain a Ghanaian identity with ease. The system also allows people to change their name(s), nationality, place of birth, time of birth etc.

Thus, the requirement is that anybody who is able to produce a Ghanaian birth certificate qualifies to apply for a Ghanaian passport.

Reacting to questions from The Statesman, the newly appointed Director of Passports confirmed the issuance of a passport to the said lady and indicated the preparedness of his outfit to investigate the matter. He also admitted there have been lapses in the whole system of passport acquisition, but was quick to add that the system is being cleaned up.

According to him, the manual means of checking information provided is not helpful, and information technology remains the only solution for thorough checks, pointing out that what needs to be pursued is the biometric passport.

He lamented that the problem is wider than his office and mentioned a number of problems such as the guarantor\witness slots on passport forms, the nationality law, birth certificate, etc and noted that the solution requires a concerted effort from all relevant agencies.

“How do we ensure that the Ghanaian birth certificate does not get to foreign nationals?” Again the Director called on Parliament to look critically at the provision of citizenship in the Constitution, which he said is too complex because it lacks uniformity and therefore makes cross-checking difficult.

Mr Allotey also called for greater public education to enable the people know why and how a passport is acquired in the country.