Member of Parliament (MP) for North Tongu, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa has made a revelation indicating Ghana will lose out on a whopping US$38.2million generated from visa processing fees.
According to information gathered by the MP, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration has singed a contract with a company known as Access Citizens Services Ghana Limited which will be to the detriment of the nation.
“Intercepted agreements, internal memos and other documents of impeccable validity reveal that a few days ago, specifically on the 2nd of October, 2024, Ghana’s Foreign Ministry signed a fresh contract addendum with Access Citizens Services Ghana Limited to handle all front-end visa applications of people seeking Ghanaian visas everywhere in the world. Only a few protocol visas are exempted under the agreement.
According to the contract, Ghana’s diplomatic missions abroad will have 4 months from the date of Access Citizens opening a Premium Application Center in their respective countries to completely hand over all front-end visa applications,” he disclosed.
The agreement between Ghana’s Foreign Ministry and Access Citizens Services Ghana Limited will last until 1st September, 2028 with the option for another 5 year renewal.
He disclosed that as part of the revenue sharing arrangement under the contract, Ghana will receive just 3% to 10% of the fees from visa applicants.
Financial projections shared by Okudzeto reveals Access Citizens will be raking in about US$38.2million between now and September 2028 while Ghana’s Foreign Ministry struggles to get a measly US$2million out of that.
Okudzeto Ablakwa further indicated that top diplomats and high ranking security officials of Ghana are outraged about the dangerous implications of the agreement, raising major concerns about data protection, national security and a crude undermine of key functions of Ghana’s diplomatic missions.
The US$38.2million Visa Processing Scandal
We have been compelled to mount keen parliamentary surveillance on a number of sleazy midnight contracts being negotiated by the Akufo-Addo/Bawumia government as their tenure comes to an end in a few weeks.
These hurriedly negotiated… pic.twitter.com/etPX7gf8vl
— Sam Okudzeto Ablakwa (@S_OkudzetoAblak) October 17, 2024
