At a press conference in Parliament on Sunday, November 8, the Minority Caucus, led by the Ranking Member of Parliament’s Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration Committee, Samuel Abu Jinapor called for an independent parliamentary investigation into allegations of the irregular issuance and sale of Ghanaian diplomatic and service passports.
The caucus alleged that about 300 Ghanaians have travelled to Europe and other destinations using the documents, claiming that some applicants were assigned “government positions they did not hold to qualify for the passports.” The Caucus also announced plans to file a motion on Monday, November 9, seeking the “establishment of an Ad Hoc Committee to investigate the matter.”
Responding to the Minority’s demands, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration indicated its willingness to account for its handling of the matter before Parliament.
“We welcome this call by the Minority for a parliamentary probe or investigation into the issues. And for that matter, we are ready with all the necessary details to meet the committee and submit our findings to them.”
Fred Duhoe
However, the Media Relations Officer for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Fred Duhoe disputed the suggestion that the Ministry’s investigation has established the sale of diplomatic passports as a fact. He emphasised that the petitions received by the institution concerned service passports, although the committee subsequently examined whether diplomatic passports were implicated.
On the issue of evidence, Mr Duhoe further challenged those making claims about diplomatic passport sales to provide evidence, observing that the allegations require “substantiation beyond public assertions.”
The Ministry, he indicated, has expected the NPP and the Minority to furnish supporting evidence for some time. “We will be waiting on that,” he remarked, indicating that the Ministry is prepared to receive the evidence and subject its own findings to further examination. He also indicated that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs And Regional Integration has nothing to conceal from the public.
Foreign Affairs Ministry Traces Passport Scandal To Forged Documents
Meanwhile, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration attributed the alleged passport irregularities involving a former external operative to “the use of forged documents and lapses in the recruitment process” following an internal committee’s examination of a petition received on October 8, 2026.
The Ministry’s Media Relations Officer, Fred Duhoe explained that the petition prompted the establishment of an investigative committee by October 13, with its findings subsequently leading to the interdiction of the officer implicated in the matter and the acting director who supervised the relevant period.
“This gentleman was recruited as a ‘goro boy’ in November 2024 into the service without doing a thorough check on his background. And that is the fundamental issue in this whole thing.”
Fred Duhoe
According to the Media Relations Officer, the petition received by the Ministry concerned the procurement of service passports and identified an individual known as Hassan Sumani. The complainant alleged that Alhassan Sumani who was supposed to secure service passports for him from 2023, failed to fulfil the arrangement.
Aside Sumani, the investigations identified the Acting Director of Passports, Mahama Yahaya Amantana has been involved in the scheme.
The petition’s specific reference to service passports, Mr Duhoe clarified, informed the initial scope of the investigation. Nevertheless, he indicated that the committee also examined whether diplomatic passports featured in the alleged scheme, ultimately concluding that the documents implicated were service passports.
He further characterised the documentation allegedly used by the individuals involved as forged, insisting that senior management had not authorised the signatures appearing on the papers. The Chief Director and the Foreign Affairs Minister, he indicated, were among the officials whose signatures allegedly were reproduced without their knowledge or approval.
In addition to the interdiction of the officer, the Ministry took steps to cancel the passports issued through the questioned process.
Turning to the recruitment process of the Foreign Affairs Ministry, Mr Duhoe explained that the committee’s work exposed deficiencies in the background checks expected of individuals entering the Foreign Service, particularly where an applicant previously operated outside the institution.
He emphasised that recruitment into the Ministry ordinarily requires background investigations, a safeguard he believes should have prevented the circumstances now under scrutiny. The case has consequently prompted questions about the procedures applied when the interdicted officer was recruited.
The Ministry’s investigation has now been referred to the Ghana Police Service for further action.
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