Ablakwa Blasts Bawumia's Campaign Team For Using Foreign Affairs Ministry For Partisan Purpose

• The National Democratic Congress (NDC) has criticised the New Patriotic Party's (NPP) presidential campaign team for misusing the Foreign Ministry
• According to Okudzeto Ablakwa, the use of the Foreign Ministry to invite diplomats to a campaign event is disgraceful and dents the credibility of the institution
• He said the Minority would summon the Foreign Minister before the house to answer for the blunder

The opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) has condemned the New Patriotic Party’s (NPP) presidential campaign team for using the Foreign Affairs Ministry to invite diplomats to a meeting.

The criticism follows the Bawumia campaign team's request to meet with resident diplomats in Ghana through the Foreign Affairs Ministry.

Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, who had raised the alarm about the incident, said the action disregarded diplomatic protocols and misused the Foreign Ministry for partisan purposes.

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He said the action undermined the Foreign Ministry’s credibility and cast it in a bad light regarding diplomatic relations.

He noted that Dr Bawumia’s campaign team could have invited the diplomats directly rather than involving the Ministry.

Ablakwa quizzed if the incident could now be used as a precedent by other presidential aspirants to direct the Foreign Ministry to invite diplomats to their events.

“The diplomats who have received this letter are, themselves, totally disgusted,” he said.

He said his side of the aisle would summon the Foreign Minister before the house to answer for the blunder.

He noted that sanctions and measures must be implemented to avoid a recurrence.

“You do not do that. It is so disgraceful. You are lowering our image in the comity of nations,” he stressed.

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Passport office to formalise goro boys

Meanwhile, the Passport Office said it was consulting to possibly formalise the role of middlemen, popularly known as goro boys, in the passport application process.

The Director of the Passport Office Headquarters, Paul Cudjoe, said there had been no progress in cracking down on the goro boys.

Cudjoe told Channel One News that presidential advisors are submitting a proposal to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs as part of an ongoing World Bank project.

The proposal aims to learn from other countries successfully integrating intermediaries into their passport application processes.

He noted that other countries had middlemen integrated into such processes.

Cudjoe also noted that formalising the goro boys was a form of job creation.

Foreign Ministry issues travel warning

YEN.com.gh reported that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration warned Ghanaians against travelling along major highways connecting Mali and Niger.

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A statement issued by the ministry highlighted terrorist harassment of commuters who ply that route.

The ministry urged Ghanaians to prioritise their safety when travelling, particularly along the Gao and Ansongo Regions of Northern Mali.

Source: YEN.com.gh