Minority’s passport allegations part of campaign to smear Ablakwa – Sammy Ayeh

Presidential Aide Dr Samuel Ayeh, has accused the New Patriotic Party (NPP) Minority in Parliament of using the alleged sale of diplomatic and service passports to pursue a political vendetta against Foreign Affairs Minister Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa.

He described the Minority’s press conference on the matter as part of what he called a campaign of character assassination aimed at damaging the Minister’s reputation because of his role in the NDC’s 2024 election victory.

Speaking on Accra-based JoyNews’ The Pulse programme on Monday, November 9, Dr Ayeh said the allegations were politically motivated and did not establish any wrongdoing by Mr Ablakwa.

“This whole agenda and a press conference held by my good brother Miracles and the members of the Minority are part of a grand scheme of a campaign of vendetta and character assassination targeted against the Foreign Minister because, in their view, he was very instrumental in their defeat in 2024,” he said.

Dr Ayeh maintained that the Ministry’s preliminary findings pointed to alleged irregularities dating back to 2023, involving an individual who was not then an employee of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs but was later recruited into the Foreign Service in November 2024.

He also challenged the Minority to provide evidence that Diplomatic Passports had been issued under the alleged scheme or establish any connection between such issuances and the Foreign Affairs Minister.

“Has the Minority been able to give us one evidence of a Diplomatic Passport that has been issued under some of these circumstances? And if so, do they have any link to the Foreign Minister? The answer is no,” he argued.

The Minority, led by its Foreign Affairs spokesperson, Samuel Abu Jinapor, had alleged that officials within the Ministry and the Passport Office facilitated the sale of Diplomatic and Service Passports to unqualified persons.

The Caucus also claimed that about 300 Ghanaians had travelled to Europe and other destinations using the documents and called for a parliamentary inquiry into the allegations.