No new recruitment at Ghana’s Embassy in Washington D.C. – Ablakwa

Minister for Foreign Affairs, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, has rejected claims that new individuals have been recruited to work at Ghana’s embassy in Washington D.C in the United States.

He praised the performance of the newly reconstituted diplomatic team at Ghana’s embassy in Washington D.C., following a strong start on the first day of resumed operations.

“From the briefing I have received, our reopened embassy in Washington D.C. issued over 800 visas on the first day of resumption,” Ablakwa revealed in a Facebook statement. “I expect this level of efficiency, professionalism, and integrity to continue,” he added.

The Foreign Minister lauded the efforts of what he described as a “fresh team of seasoned diplomats,” crediting them with successfully executing a major systems overhaul and institutional reforms aimed at restoring integrity and performance within the embassy’s operations.

“This is a testament to the fact that Ghanaian diplomats excel when provided with the right ecosystem and leadership,” Ablakwa noted.

He also dismissed circulating claims suggesting that new personnel had been recruited to replace outgoing staff.

“Contrary to false and baseless claims, there have been no new recruitments to replace lost jobs in our Washington embassy — we have an adequate stock of distinguished and astute diplomats to lead ongoing reforms,” he stated.

Ablakwa emphasized that the embassy’s restructuring is part of a broader “patriotic consequential reset agenda” and rejected attempts to frame it as mere political patronage. “This cannot be reduced to ‘jobs for the boys,’” he asserted.

In a related development, the minister announced the invalidation of a “2023 unauthorized, opaque, and illegal agreement” involving Fred Kwarteng and a senior embassy official. The agreement, Ablakwa said, has been declared null and void.

“More on this — including details about frozen accounts and other remedial actions — will be presented in greater detail when I address Parliament next week,” he added.

Ghana’s embassy in Washington, D.C. was closed following an alleged IT fraud incident in which a staff member redirected visa applications to an external website.

The staff member, Fred Kwarteng, was dismissed, and the IT department was dissolved. The situation was later criticized by the Foreign Affairs Committee in Parliament.