Foreign Ministry officials escorted holders of fraudulent passports through airport

The National Communications Director of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Dennis Miracles Aboagye, has alleged that officials of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs escorted holders of allegedly fraudulent passports through immigration at the airport to facilitate their travel.

He claimed that the officials, acting under the supervision of Foreign Affairs Minister Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, assisted the passport holders whenever their documents were ready.

The NPP spokesperson made the allegation at a press conference organised by the Minority Caucus in Parliament on Sunday, November 8, where the opposition called for a parliamentary inquiry into the alleged sale and irregular issuance of diplomatic and service passports.

“Whenever the passports are ready, the Foreign Affairs Ministry, supervised by Honourable Okudzeto Ablakwa and its staff, walks to the airport with the holders of the fraudulent passports and helps them through immigration,” he said.

He questioned how people allegedly involved in the passport scheme could pass through airport immigration without being subjected to scrutiny, particularly when the country was making efforts to intercept drug trafficking activities beyond its borders.

Miracles Aboagye also accused the Minister of misleading the public by presenting an old list of cancelled official passports as part of the findings of the Ministry’s latest investigation.

He referred to a May 2025 announcement by the Ministry, which disclosed the cancellation of 701 diplomatic and service passports belonging to former public officeholders and other persons who had failed to return the documents after a recall directive.

The affected documents comprised 341 diplomatic passports and 360 service passports, which the Ministry said had been placed on a stop list.

“All the minister did to cover this fraud in his statement was to go and pick a list of cancelled service passports to present them to you as illegal passports he has uncovered,” he alleged.

However, the Ministry’s November 8 statement presented separate findings from its preliminary investigation into the alleged illegal issuance of Service Passports.

It said 10 Service Passports had been issued to people who did not qualify for them between 2023 and 2026.

The passports, comprising four issued in 2023 and six in 2026, have since been cancelled.