A major integrity scandal of seismic proportions is presently rocking the Ghanaian government following the unearthing of a scam involving staff members of the country’s Mission in Washington DC.
With immediate effect, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has recalled all staff of the Mission over the alleged fraudulent activities uncovered in the embassy.
A report in a government daily said some staff members of the embassy were found to have allegedly created a parallel bank account to the official accounts into which they collect visa and other service fees due the embassy. Several millions of US Dollars may be involved in the fraud.
The development raises widespread concerns over the sacrosanct issues of accountability, probity and transparency in the governance of some African nations.
Foreign Affairs Minister, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, who opened the lid on the fraud, said a new staff team from the Ministry would be dispatched to take over operations at the embassy.
Furthermore, the Minister said, a particular officer found directly culpable in many of the allegations, had been sacked, explaining that the dismissed employee was Head of the Mission’s Information Technology (IT) Department.
Abiakwa said the employee incorporated a private firm into which he funnelled all the embassy’s businesses.
He disclosed that the IT Department had consequently been shut.
Forensic Audit
According to him, the Ministry had requested the country’s Auditor-General to examine with a fine tooth comb the embassy’s activities and determine the extent of losses incurred through the nefarious activities of the staff and their level of involvement.
The Ministry uncovered the corrupt activities after the Minister set up a committee to audit the entire operations of the Mission in Washington DC.
New Staff
Ablakwa said following reports from the public about suspected fraudulent dealings at the embassy, a delegation from the Ministry in Accra, the Ghanaian capital, probed the Head of Mission and other stakeholders in Washington DC.
He said the delegation was assigned to conduct an audit aimed at gaining a clearer picture of the Mission’s current procedures, evaluating alignment with the Ministry’s directives, and addressing issues related to compliance, procurement practices, IT infrastructure, and legal and financial considerations.
In view of current downtime at the embassy, the Minister said the Mission was currently using an electronic platform (eCIMS) to facilitate the processing of online visa applications,so as not to truncate service delivery.
