The Minority in Ghana’s Parliament will seek an Ad Hoc Committee inquiry into allegations that diplomatic and service passports were sold or issued improperly to people who did not qualify for them.
The motion, which the Minority says will be filed on Monday morning, is based on a dossier of documents it claims points to a syndicate operating within the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Passport Office.
Speaking at a press conference in Accra on Sunday, November 8, 2026, Samuel Abu Jinapor, the Ranking Member of Parliament’s Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration Committee, said the evidence indicated that unqualified applicants had obtained the passports after making illegal payments.
His remarks came hours after the Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced the interdiction of its Acting Director of Passports and a junior officer in connection with the allegations.
Mr Jinapor said officials from the Ministry and the Passport Office had allegedly operated a travel and tour business that helped paying customers travel abroad, particularly to Europe, using diplomatic or service passports.
He alleged that applicants were assigned false public-sector positions and job titles to make them appear eligible for the documents.
Among the evidence presented were letters purportedly signed on behalf of the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa. The letters approved passports for people described as officials of various public institutions.
However, Mr Jinapor said checks carried out by the Minority suggested that some of the named individuals did not work for those institutions. In other cases, he said, the positions listed in the letters did not exist.
He cited a letter dated June 1, 2026, which identified Mr Amoh Boadi as Deputy Director, Audit Services, at the Greater Accra Regional Coordinating Council. A second letter, issued three days later, described a person with the same name as Deputy District Coordinating Director of the Akrofuom District Assembly.
“Do these entries refer to the same person? If so, how did the same name come to be presented under two different official positions at two different institutions for the purpose of obtaining these passports?” he asked.
The documents also included receipts for cash deposits and mobile money transfers allegedly made to an agent, Bright Yeboah Owusu, who Mr Jinapor said received payments on behalf of officials involved in the arrangement.
He further alleged that Ministry personnel helped applicants pass through the airport without scrutiny from Ghana Immigration Service officers. According to the Minority, about 300 Ghanaians travelled to Europe using passports issued through the scheme.
The proposed inquiry would examine approvals and the issuance of diplomatic and service passports from January 7, 2025, up to the date the motion is adopted.
Mr Jinapor said an internal committee established by the Ministry should not prevent Parliament from carrying out its oversight role.
“More importantly, the very people who superintended this rot cannot be the same persons to investigate it. This matter requires an independent and impartial investigation,” he said.
He said the committee should be given access to passport applications, institutional recommendations, approval letters, issuance records and electronic records to determine who processed and authorised the applications.
The Minority urged the Majority to support the motion, stressing that an inquiry would not mean the allegations had already been proven.
“The authority of the Republic must never become a private means of making money, and we will not allow these serious questions to go unanswered,” Mr Jinapor said.
