Ghana Embassy Madrid, Spain Denied Passport Application Processing For Ghanaians In Gerona Because They Do Not Belong To A Particular Union

The Ghana Embassy in Madrid yesterday, September 4th, denied passport application processing for about 27 Ghanaian nationals, among them pregnant women and children who travelled about 120 km from Gerona to Martorell in the Catalonia Province in Spain to have their passport application processed at a Consular Clinic exercise organized by the Embassy.

The unfortunate incident occurred at the Avinguda de Joaquim de Barnola i Bassols in Martorell, and the reason given for the denial is that those applicants are not members of a defunct Ghana union in Gerona, so they have no right to Consular service.

News of the unpleasant incident did not come as a total surprise to most Ghanaians in Girona knowing what they knew about some staff members on the mission and some members of the old Ghana union in Gerona, details of which I cannot write here. But people are disgusted that the consulate, headed by Mr. Isaac Seth Odame, Minister/Consular, could stoop so low to act so unprofessionally as to deny citizens of Ghana their basic rights because a couple of people told them to do so.

The incident could have provoked a scuffle between the passport applicants and those Ghanaians guarding the entrance to the hall where the exercise had taken place, but our people conducted themselves well, and after they had exhausted every means to no avail, they boarded their bus and returned to Gerona.

Now, the question I know everyone reading this may be asking is, how did we get to this point? Well, here are the events leading to the incident: The old Ghana union in Girona was formed by concerned Ghanaians in 2008 to oversee the well-being of Ghanaians and to pursue activities of mutual interests and benefits. Immediately after its creation, a caretaker administration received a mandate and oversaw the affairs of the association. The team managed the affairs of the association to the best of their ability until 2015 when there came the need for new leadership. Although the association was lacking in many ways, they managed to conduct an election, and a new administration took over.

Since the earlier caretaker administration was not able to create a constitution to guide the association, it created a vacuum for the new administration to take advantage of. They overstayed their term in office and refused to have elections. They turned the association into a club of friends. There were no general meetings for a period of four years. Only the executives and a few friends had meetings. The general assembly had no idea about the affairs and direction of the association, and all efforts to convince the administration to engage with members were ignored. The earlier caretaker administration approached the administration to call for reform and demanded an election. The new administration rejected the proposal, which led to bitter altercations among otherwise good friends leading to the invocation of curses and threatening, the typical Ghanaian style.

Some concerned members in the community, including myself, saw what was going on and approached both sides to seek peace. Both sides accepted the plea for a peaceful solution and asked us to mediate. The new administration eventually agreed to an election to be held, but with conditions designed to restrict interested parties from taking part. The new administration gave us about eight pages of handwritten bylaws to review and add to.

With the makeup of our community, we realize that the best way to restore trust and peace in the association is to create power-sharing committees to include a Council of Elders to become the backbone of the association, so they can ensure the smooth running of affairs.

After a year and a half, we came out with a thirty-three-page constitution with a roadmap and gave each group a copy to review. The other group reviewed it and accepted it, but the new administration rejected it. They did not even give us feedback on whether they agreed with it or not, they just ignored us, and went ahead to form an electoral commission to conduct an election. The people saw what was happening and started calling for them to come out and tell them their reason for not accepting our constitution and demanded that a committee of council of elders and disciplinary committee be created before any election could take place, but the administration refused.

The opposition joined the people in calling for the council of elders, disciplinary committee, constitution committee and then finally an electoral committee to conduct a proper election, but the new administration will not have any of it, so the opposition withdrew their candidacy for the chairmanship.

It was during our tumultuous time in Girona when we were looking to revive our dying association that the Union of Ghanaian associations in Catalonia (UGAC), was formed. But the administration in Girona who represented our community knew of the forming of the mother association, something they kept a secret from the rest of the association, and cleverly stalled our negotiations until UGAC was formally inaugurated and, as they became representatives from Girona, they used that leverage to continue to perpetuate their incompetence and inept attitude.

As mediators, we thought it wise and reported the case to UGAC, but UGAC did nothing about it. Eventually, the electoral commission realized that the demand of the people was greater, so they cancelled the elections.

Since the leadership and their cronies will neither reform the association nor listen to the demands of the people, the people started calling for a new association that would be for the people and not for a few friends. An association that would have rules and regulations. And another reason Ghanaians in Girona need a new association is that, throughout the five years of the new administration, the old association did not attend a single city council meeting or take part in any civic or cultural activities in our city, prompting the city council and our civic centres to cancel our names from all their activities. 14 years ago, when we formed the old union, Ghanaians in Gerona were about two hundred. Today, however, Ghanaian nationals in Gerona and its environs are well over four hundred people, so our problems are increasing by the day. So, with the advice of our city council and civic centers, a group of people came together, and we formed the Ghanaian Welfare and Culture Association. And within a week, we have registered about 227 people.

When the old union heard of our new association, they panicked and tried to use their membership in UGAC to persuade them to snub us. UGAC conducted a series of Zoom meetings with us since it was at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic. The result was pathetic. Their own members, our then representatives from Girona, insulted them bitterly because they saw the truth in what we were fighting for, and told them as it is. The old administration then snubbed their own mother association in which they represented Gerona and went to Madrid to report the case to the consul, Mr. Seth Odame.

The consul called us by phone and tried to intimidate us even before he heard our story. We sent him a three-page email explaining the issue to him. After reading it, he understood us and replied to us to try as much as possible to find a common ground to make peace and live as compatriots. He was gracious and we appreciated that.

He even offered to mediate, but we did not want to break protocol just like the others did by snubbing the mother association, UGAC, to go to the consul, so, we assured him that all would be well. All we wanted is a reformed association with a constitution and participation in our city’s activities. We even had a courtesy visit to his office in April when we went to the consulate to renew our passports and talk about so many issues, including the huge amount we must pay to travel to Madrid for consular services, and he informed us that they now have mobile equipment with which they would soon bring consular services to our doorsteps. Since then, we have been communicating occasionally with him while we liaise with UGAC to find a solution to our problem.

Things quickly took a different turn, when sometime last month, the president of UGAC called to give us a short notice that they would be coming to Girona to have an executive meeting with the old union and that they would want us to be there too. We respect protocol in our new association, meaning we must inform all the committees for them to prepare themselves, and since most of them work on Saturdays too, we could not attend the meeting.

About two weeks ago, we heard news that as part of the Ghana Mission’s agenda to bring governance to the doorstep of the Ghanaian community in Spain, the consular team at the Mission, who have embarked on a series of community outreach activities dubbed “Consular Clinics” to assist Ghanaians in Spain with their Ghanaian passport application processing and had already gone to Almeria in Andalucía Province, Lorca in the Murcia Province, and Zaragoza in the Aragon Province, all of which was announced on the Mission’s website will be coming to Martorell in the Catalonia Province for the same exercise.

However, this time, it was not published on the Embassy website. And there was a special instruction that every town and city should have their names listed and give to their union leaders to send it to the embassy beforehand.

We heard that all the unions in our province have been informed except us. So, we called UGAC to ask them about it, and they told us to hand our names to the old association. We responded that we could not do that as we have yet to solve the problems between us. So, we wrote to the consul, Mr. Seth Odame for inquiry and sent our list to him personally, but he replied to us that he was not compiling any names in his office, and that he had asked UGAC in Catalonia to organize the event, so we should send our list to them. (We now know he was being sarcastic). Our leader kept in touch with the organizer in Martorell. At first, he was reluctant, but after a few minutes, he asked our interim chairman to send him our list which he did, about twenty-seven people, including women and children. We also agreed to any other conditions to help make the event successful. The next day, the organizer sent us the venue and the time for our people to be there. So, we announced on our WhatsApp platform for all to get prepared. And we booked a bus to carry our people to and from the venue.

Then, a couple of days before the event, we received news from the organizers that we should hand over our list to the old association for them to bring it to them. We declined because (1) we have already sent our list to the organizers, and although we knew eventually, we have to find a common ground to come together, but, for now, we prefer to keep our peace.

We did not hear from the organizers or the consul again, until our people boarded the bus and travelled the 127-kilometer journey to Martorell yesterday, September 4th, and were told that because we did not give a second list to the old union in our town that the consul would not deal with them. Wow! Our people exhausted every effort, but all to no avail. When the consul was eventually contacted, he told our people that he and his team came to Catalonia because the union invited them, so he could not do anything about it. They let the twenty-seven people, including women and children, return to Gerona without considering them just because they belong to a new association.

So, the Ghana consulate used the consular service, our basic Ghanaian citizen right, as leverage to coerce us to join an incompetent, inept Ghana association that is now defunct. And what is even more disturbing is that the so-called chairman of the old association who has been at the helm of all these problems cannot even read and write, and this is a guy who, two days before the Consular Clinic exercise, made a YouTube video announcing his resignation.

Now, here are a few questions which we would like all interested organizations, persons, or offices to investigate and answer for us: Just a few years back, a similar incident occurred here in Spain when the consulate delegated its powers to Ghanaian associations to issue applicants who want to process their passports with letters to verify their nationality before the consulate can do their passports for them.

Asiedu-8

They then post the finished passports to the associations who again charge applicants extra money to give them to them. Many unscrupulous leaders saw the leeway to lord over, swindle and used the opportunity to settle duels with their enemies. Some associations keep people's passports for up to a month before giving them to them. Something which is still going on in Girona as I write. Is this a return to that era?

Can the consulate deny consular services to some Ghanaians because they do not belong to a particular association?

Although we are an association, we do not impose on anyone. We only go to assist when people in our community call on us. So, can one or two people in a community of over four hundred people force their will on them? Has the consulate delegated its mandate once again to Ghana associations?

Yes, they humiliated and abused us, and we feel disgusted that our consulate will stoop so low to deny passport application processing to its own nationals, and we demand explanations. We have every prove, WhatsApp charts, audio, videos, and pictures to support our story. And while we will leave it to Ghanaians both home and abroad to judge and draw their conclusions, we humbly ask our honourable consul and his team to bow down their heads in shame and resign. None of them deserves to be in that position.

And as for UGAC, we used to think that it has a useful purpose and stands for the interest of all Ghanaians in Catalonia, but recent development has shown this is not the case. “UGAC” is a club for a group of people with tribal and selfish interests. A group of power mongers, ineptness and with no clear direction or genuine interest for all Ghanaians but themselves. No wonder the biggest concentration of Ghanaians in Catalonia, Vic, is not a member.