ADC urges probe into foreign affairs spending

The Africa Development Council (ADC) has called for a full-scale investigation into the financial activities and asset management practices of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration under the previous government, describing the level of mismanagement as alarming and detrimental to the national interest.

The Council, in a statement, signed by its Honoray Head of Protocols,  Timothy Gobah, expressed grave concern over what it described as “reckless abandonment of State machinery on the altar of self-aggrandisement” by former officials.

According to the ADC, several government-owned residences, both within the country and in foreign missions, were neglected during the tenure of the past administration, with preference given to private hotels, paid for with state funds.

“Residencies of Regional Coordinating Councils were left to rot, while personal hotels were used instead, with the State footing the bills,” the statement read.

“In the Russia Federation, for example, a Foreign Mission residence was left unattended while a hotel was rented for the ambassador throughout his tenure,” it added.

The Council also revealed that parcels of land granted to Ghana by other governments for embassy construction—such as one in the Russian Federation—remained undeveloped, despite being part of reciprocal diplomatic arrangements.

Revelations

In light of the revelations, the ADC called on the Operation-Recover-All-Loot (ORAL) team,  the anti corruption initiative of President John Mahama, to thoroughly investigate all foreign missions and recover any misused public funds.

It further recommended that the current government urgently reshuffle or recall all diplomatic staff posted abroad, suggesting that many may have been complicit or negligent.

The Council concluded by calling on national leadership to adopt long-term, visionary planning in foreign affairs management, rather than the ad hoc decisions it claimed had plagued the sector.

“It is time the leadership of the country began to think beyond the current generation, in order to  do away with adhoc style of leadership,” the Council stated.

The Daily Graphic reported last Monday that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs had recalled all staff of Ghana’s mission in Washington DC, with immediate effect, over alleged fraudulent activities uncovered in that embassy.

Some officers of Ghana’s Embassy in the US were found to have allegedly created a parallel bank account to the state accounts in which they collected visa and other service fees due the embassy.

The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, who disclosed this to the Daily Graphic last Sunday, said a new team of staff of the ministry would be dispatched.