About 300 Ghanaians may have travelled abroad using diplomatic and service passports allegedly obtained through payments to agents, with some reportedly receiving assistance from Ministry of Foreign Affairs officials to evade airport scrutiny, the Minority in Parliament has alleged.

The alleged scheme involved securing Diplomatic, Service passports for unqualified applicants by presenting them as government officials, civil servants or public servants through fabricated appointments and fictitious official titles.

Addressing a press conference in Accra, the Ranking Member of Parliament’s Foreign Affairs Committee, Samuel Abu Jinapor, said the Minority had obtained approval letters, redacted passport copies, bank deposit slips and mobile money records which it believed implicated officials of the Ministry and the Passport Office.

He alleged that the process was facilitated through a travel and tour business operated by Ibrahim Walee and Bright Yeboah Owusu.

Customers reportedly paid the agents, who arranged for them to be presented as public officials, sometimes under positions that did not exist, to qualify for the passports.

“In other words, you can go and pay money, they will describe you as some form of government official or civil or public servant, and then on that basis, they can get you the diplomatic or service passport,” Mr Jinapor said.

The alleged attraction was the travel advantage attached to the documents.

The Minority said diplomatic passports offer visa-free access to 62 countries, while service passports provide access to 59, including Germany, Hungary, Brazil, China and Colombia.

It further alleged that some beneficiaries received assistance from Foreign Ministry personnel at the airport to avoid or reduce scrutiny by officers of the Ghana Immigration Service.

Mr Jinapor said the information available to the Caucus suggested that about 300 Ghanaians had travelled using passports obtained through the arrangement.

Some customers, however, reportedly paid for the service but were left stranded at the airport when the promised assistance failed to materialise.

Their calls to the agent allegedly went unanswered, leaving them unable to recover their money.

Others successfully travelled with the assistance of the agent and Ministry officials.

“If the information before us is borne out, then people were able to pay their way into being presented to foreign governments as officials of the Republic of Ghana,” Mr Jinapor said.

Approval letters expose alleged fictitious appointments

The Minority presented five approval letters issued in the name of the Minister for Foreign Affairs between June and August 2026. They authorised diplomatic or service passports for individuals presented as officials of the Greater Accra Regional Coordinating Council, Akrofuom District Assembly, Ghana TVET Service, Fisheries Commission and the National Disaster Management Organisation (NADMO).

The Caucus said its checks showed that the individuals named did not work at the institutions or hold the positions attributed to them. Some of the titles, it alleged, were fictitious.

One case involved Mr Amoh Boadi, whose name appeared in two approval letters under different positions at separate public institutions.

A letter dated June 1, 2026, signed by the Ministry’s Chief Director, Ambassador Khadija Iddrisu, on behalf of the Minister, identified him as Deputy Director, Audit Services, at the Greater Accra Regional Coordinating Council.

A second letter, dated June 4, 2026, presented the same individual as Deputy District Coordinating Director of the Akrofuom District Assembly.

The Minority questioned how one person could have been presented as holding two senior positions in different public institutions within three days to qualify for the passports.

“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? Who provided these details, and how were they approved?” it asked.

The Caucus also cited the NADMO letter, which allegedly listed beneficiaries under the titles “Director Hydro” and “Director Geologicals”—positions it said did not exist within the organisation. It further alleged that some other positions attributed to applicants were already occupied.

The Minority said it had also seen passports held by natives of Dormaa who were neither civil nor public servants.

Payments and passports displayed

To support its claims, the Minority displayed GCB Bank cash deposit receipts and mobile money transaction records showing payments allegedly made to Bright Yeboah Owusu, whom it identified as one of the agents.

The individuals who supplied the records reportedly said they had paid for passports and related travel arrangements.

Redacted biodata pages of service passports were also presented, with personal details concealed to protect the holders’ identities. The Caucus said the documents shown represented only part of the evidence in its possession.

“These passports are supposed to be issued for official purposes. They are not privileges to be sold to anyone willing to pay,” Mr Jinapor said.

The Minority warned that the alleged abuse, if established, could undermine Ghana’s credibility with foreign governments.

It said countries receiving Ghanaian passport holders must have confidence that diplomatic and service documents are held by persons legitimately entitled to them, warning that abuse could also cast suspicion on genuine officials travelling on state assignments.

Minority rejects internal investigation

The Caucus said it would file a motion in Parliament on Monday seeking an ad hoc committee to investigate the allegations, with the approval letters, passport records and payment evidence attached.

It wants the committee to examine electronic application and approval records to establish who initiated and processed the applications, who authorised the passports and whether any information was altered.

The Minority is also seeking the appearance of Foreign Affairs Minister Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, the Ministry’s Chief Director, the interdicted Director of Passports and the alleged agent before the committee.

It rejected an internal committee reportedly established by the Minister on October 13, 2026, and chaired by Ambassador Alexander Grant Ntrakwa.

Mr Jinapor said the Minority had received information that members of the internal committee had been instructed not to speak publicly about the matter.

“For example, the committee has been instructed not to speak on this matter at all. That is why till date, we have not seen any publication from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs speaking about this issue,” he said.

The Caucus argued that the Ministry could not independently investigate allegations involving its own officials and procedures. Invoking the principle nemo judex in causa sua—that no one should be a judge in their own cause—it insisted on an independent parliamentary inquiry.

“The very people who superintended this rot cannot be the same persons to investigate it,” it said.

It maintained that the internal committee’s records and findings could assist Parliament but should not replace or obstruct its investigation.

The Minority stressed that its allegations had not been established as fact and that the proposed committee should examine the evidence, hear from those involved, identify beneficiaries and intermediaries, trace payments and determine whether officials of the Ministry or Passport Office abused their positions.