Ghana's embassy in Washington, D.C., has been closed for a while because of some serious problems. There are claims that many people working there were involved in corruption and misusing their power.
Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, the Minister for Foreign Affairs, shared the news on social media. He mentioned that some workers have been fired or suspended. Here’s what he said:
- All staff members from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs who were working at the Washington embassy have been called back home right away.
- The IT department at the embassy has been shut down.
- All local workers at the embassy have been put on hold from their jobs.
The government is also asking the Auditor-General to look into all the money transactions to find out how much money was lost in this big scam.
Mr. Ablakwa said that these actions are part of a plan to fix and improve the embassy's operations. He apologized for any trouble this might cause but stressed that it’s important to bring back trust and responsibility.
The main person involved in this scandal is a local staff member named Fred Kwarteng. He is accused of running a sneaky scheme where he charged extra fees to people applying for visas and passports.
Fred started working in the IT department in August 2017. He is said to have created a secret link on the embassy’s official website. This link sent people to his own company, Ghana Travel Consultants (GTC), where he charged them more money for services without anyone knowing.
His extra fees, which were not allowed by the ministry or the government, ranged from about $29.75 to $60 for each applicant. Investigations show that he and his partners were doing this illegal activity for at least five years!
The minister has reported this bad behavior to the Attorney-General, who will look into possibly prosecuting Fred and getting back the money that was taken through these dishonest actions.
