
Former Head of Information at Permanent Mission of Ghana to the United Nations, Frederick Kofi Ameyaw, has welcomed the decision by Ghana’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, to sack Mr. Fred Kwarteng from the IT Department at Ghana’s embassy in Washington, DC.
Mr Ameyaw made the point that he was initially uncomfortable with the decision by the Minister however, his preliminary investigations show that the decision was right.
“Although I was initially uncomfortable with the decision, my personal experience and preliminary inquiry have revealed that the Foreign Minister made the right call by dismissing the IT Officer, suspending the local staffs, and recalling the foreign service officers,” Ameyaw who is also Director in charge of the New Patriotic Party’s external or diaspora affairs wrote on Facebook.
Fred Kwarteng was a local staff recruited on August 11, 2017 to work in the embassy’s IT department.
Referring to findings from an audit report, and his own admission, Mr Ablakwa said that Kwarteng allegeldy 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 Minister wrote on his X page.
Mr Ablakwa said he took the decision with the firm support of President John Dramani Mahama.
His post on X said, “With the firm support of President Mahama, I have carried out the following drastic and decisive actions following the damming findings of a special audit team i put together a couple of months ago to investigate alleged corrupt practices at Ghana’s embassy in Washington DC:
1) 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.
2) All Ministry of Foreign Affairs staff posted to the Washington embassy have been recalled home with immediate effect.
3) The embassy’s IT department has been promptly dissolved.
4) All locally recruited staff at the embassy have been suspended.
5) The Auditor-General has been invited to conduct forensic examination of all transactions and to determine the total cost of this elaborate fraudulent scheme.
6) Ghana’s embassy in Washington DC shall be closed for a few days from today as we finalize the ongoing restructuring and systems overhaul.
Any inconvenience these radical measures may cause visa and passport applicants is regretted.
President Mahama’s government will continue to demonstrate zero tolerance for corruption, naked conflict of interest and blatant abuse of office. More updates soon.
The post Dismissal of IT Officer at Ghana’s embassy in Washington is right – Kofi Ameyaw first appeared on 3News.
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