'Disingenuity and manipulation’ – Shamima Muslim takes on NPP over passport saga

A Deputy Presidential Spokesperson, Shamima Muslim, has accused the New Patriotic Party (NPP) of manipulating the diplomatic and service passport controversy to embarrass the government and undermine Ghana’s international reputation.

She said the party raised concerns about the alleged passport syndicate and wrote to foreign missions to suspend recognition of Ghanaian diplomatic and service passports after the Ministry of Foreign Affairs had already begun investigating the matter.

Speaking on Accra-based Metro TV’s Good Morning Ghana on Tuesday, November 10, she questioned the timing of the NPP’s actions and accused its members of deliberately creating the impression that they had acted before the ministry initiated its investigation.

“This is the level of NPP's disingenuity and manipulation,” she said.

According to the Presidential Spokesperson, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs received a petition alleging the existence of a passport syndicate on October 8.

She said five days later, on October 13, the Foreign Affairs Minister, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, constituted an investigative committee chaired by Ambassador Alexander Grant Ntrakwa to examine the allegations.

She further stated that the NPP wrote to foreign missions on October 30, 17 days after the committee had begun its work, asking them to suspend recognition of Ghanaian diplomatic and service passports.

Shamima argued that the party should have raised the matter through Parliament or the appropriate security agencies instead of first writing to foreign missions.

She also rejected the suggestion that the ministry had hurriedly put together its response to the NPP's concerns, saying the investigation had been ongoing before the party made its actions public.