The Director of Communications for the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Dennis Miracles Aboagye has welcomed the Office of the Special Prosecutor’s (OSP) decision to examine evidence concerning the alleged irregular issuance of Ghanaian service and diplomatic passports.
However, he insists that the investigation must run alongside “a parliamentary public inquiry” to establish the extent of the alleged misconduct and allow Ghanaians to “scrutinise the evidence.”
“We need to be able to understand how bad the situation is. There are a lot of very critical questions that even those of us who have brought this out do not have answers to yet. And the Ministry and the Minister do not have answers to. For example, how many people holding our service passports and diplomatic passports are holding them through this scheme? It’s very important. Who are they? How sure are we that these people are not using them for all the wrong reasons? How do we recall these passports?”
Dennis Miracles Aboagye
The NPP Communications Director consequently urged Parliament to pursue its own investigation instead of leaving the matter entirely to the OSP. He believes the legislature offers a public platform where officials and other stakeholders can respond to questions, present evidence and explain the circumstances surrounding the alleged transactions.
Mr Aboagye specifically appealed to the Speaker of Parliament to allow the proposed inquiry to proceed, insisting that Ghanaians deserve to hear directly from those implicated. “This isn’the first time this will happen,” he remarked, pointing to the parliamentary inquiry held during the COVID-19 pandemic, when the then Minister for Health appeared before lawmakers in proceedings broadcast nationally.
He further identified the possible misuse of service and diplomatic passports as a matter requiring urgent clarification. In particular, he questioned how authorities would establish the identities of all beneficiaries, determine whether the documents have been used for “purposes unrelated to official duties and retrieve passports improperly issued.”
Owing to the potential implications for the country’s international standing, Mr Aboagye also called for measures to protect the credibility of Ghanaian travel documents. He cautioned that merely identifying and cancelling a limited number of passports would not resolve the matter if other beneficiaries are still undiscovered.
The NPP Communications Director emphasised that members of the public could possess additional information relevant to the investigation. He therefore proposed an open process through which individuals could volunteer evidence and assist the authorities in establishing the full circumstances of the alleged scheme.
NPP Communications Director Calls For Recusal
Alongside his call for parallel investigations into the passport controversy, NPP Director of Communications Dennis Miracles Aboagye also challenged the Foreign Affairs Minister’s account of the service passports identified and cancelled, questioning whether the ministry has established the full scale of the alleged irregularities.
He also contends that the Minister’s public pronouncements could “compromise the investigation” and has called on him to step aside to allow state institutions to work independently.
Mr Aboagye’s objections centre on the ministry’s announcement that 10 allegedly irregularly issued service passports have been identified and cancelled, with two others reportedly still active.
He disputes the impression that the exercise accounts for all the documents involved, insisting that the NPP possesses additional passport booklets and biodata pages that were not included in the Ministry’s list.
“Our service and diplomatic passports that are supposed to be exclusive and supposed to hold the sovereign strength of the state is now being sold like tomatoes.”
Dennis Miracles Aboagye
The Communications Director questioned the Ministry’s conclusion that the identified passports have been retrieved, arguing that the announcement could create the impression that the problem has been comprehensively addressed. He pointed to physical copies presented at the NPP press conference, claiming that the party possessed several additional documents beyond those acknowledged by the ministry.
He further referenced passport biodata pages reportedly presented by the Minority’s Ranking Member at a meeting, insisting that the documents were not among the 10 identified by the minister. For Mr Aboagye, the discrepancy demonstrates why the authorities must establish the total number of passports issued through the alleged arrangement before declaring the matter contained.
Consequently, he called for the Foreign Affairs Minister to recuse himself from the process, alleging that his public defence of the ministry’s actions could interfere with an impartial investigation. “The main fact that the minister is attempting to even defend this criminality and fraud is the reason why he should step out of the way,” he asserted.
The NPP Communications Director also disputed the amounts highlighted in the Ministry’s account of the alleged transactions. The referenced payments are US$29,000 and US$5,000 in separate petitions, Mr Aboagye insisted that the party possessed payment records indicating substantially higher sums.
He cited mobile money transfers, GCB Bank and Fidelity Bank receipts as evidence presented by the Minority during its press conference. He further claimed that one farmer from Dormaa Ahenkro allegedly paid €27,000 for a service passport, while other payments reached US$50,000 or more.
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