Ghana’s Minister for Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration, Hon. Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, has publicly rebutted claims made by former Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs under the Akufo-Addo administration, Ambassador Charles Owiredu, regarding the processing timelines for Ghanaian visa applications.
The disagreement arises amid the launch of a bold new visa reform by the current administration aimed at expediting visa approvals to within five working days.
At the heart of the dispute is the government’s newly announced 5-day visa directive, which Hon Ablakwa described as a transformative initiative designed to eliminate bureaucratic bottlenecks and position Ghana as an attractive global destination for investors, tourists, and diplomats.
This policy, he says, is not only a bold step in enhancing Ghana’s international competitiveness but a necessary intervention to correct what he characterises as a legacy of administrative inefficiency.
Ambassador Charles Owiredu, former Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, in a direct counterstatement, insisted that the new policy is not revolutionary, claiming that visa processing timelines were already efficient under the Akufo-Addo-led government.
“It is never true that it took up to 6 weeks to process Ghana visa applications. It has always been between 2 – 5 days,” he stated. He argued that delays, when they occurred, were largely the result of incomplete applications, and even then, never extended to six weeks.
He further pointed to policies such as visa-on-arrival, particularly during tourism-focused initiatives like the “Year of Return and Detty December,” as evidence of the former administration’s commitment to facilitating international travel.
Ablakwa’s Response
However, in a strong response, Hon. Ablakwa accused Ambassador Owiredu of misrepresenting the facts about past visa processing timelines. “Honourable former Deputy Minister, you know you are absolutely wrong on this,” Hon. Ablakwa stated.
According to him, during the tenure of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) administration, visa processing took far longer than the 2 to 5 days the former Deputy Minister claimed.
He referred to existing data on embassy websites, many of which were created under the former Deputy Minister’s watch, that show otherwise.
“Kindly check our embassy in Washington, DC’s website, which provides 15 to 20 business days for standard applications. Our New York website indicates 3 weeks, our embassy website for Germany says 15 business days, our UK High Commission website indicates 15 working days — these are just a few websites exposing your misleading presentation.”
Hon. Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, Ghana’s Minister of Foreign Affairs
He added that numerous petitions received by the ministry indicate that even these stated timelines were often exceeded in practice.
The Minister’s remarks come as part of a broader defence of the newly launched visa policy, which he sees as a critical step in the Mahama administration’s vision for economic transformation.
The policy seeks to ensure that no standard visa application takes more than five working days to process—a dramatic shift from what he describes as the long-standing norm of four to six weeks.
Hon.Ablakwa remains adamant. For him, the facts as captured on embassy websites and echoed in public complaints speak louder than political rhetoric.
He is optimistic that the new five-day directive, which takes immediate effect, will be a game-changer for Ghana’s foreign relations, tourism, and trade agenda.
“The good news is that our government’s new 5-day reset directive and the measures we have put in place in line with President Mahama’s vision will fix this and open up Ghana for investments and economic transformation.”
Hon. Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, Ghana’s Minister of Foreign Affairs
Given its own admission that previous timelines were frequently missed, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs will be closely watched as the new policy is implemented to see if it can meet the ambitious five-day timeline.
But for the time being, the policy represents a significant effort by the Mahama administration to usher in a new era of responsiveness in the provision of public services.
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