Fred Kwarteng, the former head of IT at Ghana’s embassy in Washington DC has boldly stated he did not engage in any illegality at the embassy.
The former IT staff denied allegations that he diverted Ghana’s embassy funds.
According to Fred Kwarteng, his work has positively impacted many Ghanaians, and officials within both the embassy and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs were fully aware of his activities.
He further urged Ghanaians to focus on the value of the services he has been providing rather than his personal earnings.
Speaking in an interview with Asempa 94.7 FM on May 29, 2025, Fred Kwarteng narrated his side of the story, “I was working for the embassy. However, in this case, I was being paid for the other stuff that I did for the embassy.
This other service was to offer solution for outsiders. They were paying me to go buy their return envelopes, prepare their labels, and make sure they could receive timely communication up to the time it gets delivered to them. These are two different things”.
“If I had put a charge on coming up with that idea, for example, a certain amount of money the government should pay me for coming up with this intellectual idea, and I’m still operating it, it is a different ball game… I did not ask for money,” he said.
He further added, “So if I say that instead of putting the burden on the embassy, let us put the burden on the applicant by finding a way to solve their problem how does it constitute a crime. The system added verification and communicated with them. When there was an issue, they were being communicated to.”
Fred Kwarteng further claimed that no Ghanaian has complained about the service he had been providing to them.
He added, “For all these years, did anybody go online or on social media to say that somebody had stolen his or her money or passport? No, there were no complaints.
“So, can we look at the good side which is the fact that people were benefiting, and forget about the fact that somebody was benefiting from a concept he put together?” he asked.
His comment comes on the heels of the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa accusing him of corrupt practices.
Ablakwa in an X post 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”.
Watch the video below:
Fred Kwarteng, the former head of IT at Ghana’s embassy in Washington D.C., has denied allegations that he diverted embassy funds.
He urged Ghanaians to focus on the value of the services he has been providing rather than his personal earnings.
According to Fred Kwarteng, his… pic.twitter.com/axWAo2Bkil
— SIKAOFFICIAL🦍 (@SIKAOFFICIAL1) May 30, 2025
