Ghana’s Embassy in Washington D.C. will reopen on Thursday, May 29, 2025, after closure over alleged corrupt practices by staff.
The announcement comes on the heels of the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa revealing the closure of Ghana’s embassy in Washington DC over alleged corrupt practices by staff.
According to Ablakwa, Ghana’s embassy in Washington DC would be closed for a few days from today as they finalize the ongoing restructuring and systems overhaul.
In a post on X, he revealed that through President Mahama’s support, a special audit team was put together a couple of months ago to investigate alleged corrupt practices at Ghana’s embassy in Washington DC.
He wrote, “ The immediate dismissal of Mr. Fred Kwarteng. Mr Kwarteng was a local staff recruited on August 11, 2017 to work in the embassy’s IT department. According to findings and his own admission, he created an unauthorized link on the embassy’s website which diverted visa and passport applicants to his company, Ghana Travel Consultants (GTC) where he charged extra for multiple services on the blind side of the ministry and kept the entire proceeds in his private account.
His illegal extra charges which were not approved by the ministry and parliament as required under the Fees and Charges Act ranges from US$29.75 to US$60 per applicant. The Investigations reveal that he and his collaborators operated this illegal scheme for at least 5 years.
This conduct has been reported to the Attorney-General for possible prosecution and retrieval of funds obtained through fraudulent schemes”.
His post added, “All Ministry of Foreign Affairs staff posted to the Washington embassy have been recalled home with immediate effect.
The embassy’s IT department has been promptly dissolved. All locally recruited staff at the embassy have been suspended”.
On Tuesday, May 27, 2025, in a statement issued by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs a new team of diplomats, led by a senior official from the Ministry, has been assigned to take over operations at the Mission.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs detailed that the move is to execute a complete system overhaul, restoring integrity in the Embassy’s operations, and finalising ongoing structural reforms.
They also revealed an IT team has already been deployed to reconfigure the Embassy’s website and payment platforms.
See the post below:
Recalls, suspensions and dismissal at Ghana’s embassy in Washington DC concluded.
A fresh team of our most experienced and astute diplomats from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs have been deployed to take over and overhaul the entire system.
Full embassy operations resume this… pic.twitter.com/83lKrw6nog
— Sam Okudzeto Ablakwa (@S_OkudzetoAblak) May 27, 2025
