The Ministry of Foreign Affairs says it has cancelled 10 service passports allegedly issued to unqualified individuals through an illegal arrangement involving a syndicate operating within the passport administration system.
The Ministry has also interdicted two officials, including the Acting Director of Passports, Mahama Yahaya Amantana and a junior Foreign Service Officer, Alhassan Sumani, over their alleged involvement in the scheme.
In a statement issued in Accra yesterday, November 8, 2026 the Ministry said the two officers had been referred to the Ghana Police Service for further investigations and possible prosecution.
It said preliminary investigations had established that individuals who did not qualify for service passports had obtained the documents after allegedly making illegal payments to members of a syndicate.
The development comes amid growing controversy over the alleged sale and irregular issuance of Ghanaian diplomatic and service passports, following allegations raised by the Minority in Parliament.
The Ministry, however, stressed that the investigations concerned service passports and not diplomatic passports, insisting that no evidence had so far emerged to establish that diplomatic passports were being sold.
Two officers interdicted
According to the Ministry, it received a petition on October 8, 2026 and subsequently constituted an investigative committee on October 13, on the instructions of the Foreign Affairs Minister, Samuel OkudzetoAblakwa.
It identified Mr Sumani, who was recruited into the Foreign Service on November 29, 2024, as a person named in all the petitions as the alleged chief architect of the scheme.
The Ministry claimed that he had operated as a middleman, popularly known as a “goro boy”, before joining the Foreign Service.
The Acting Director of Passports, Mr Amantana, was also interdicted to facilitate investigations into the matter.
The Ministry said the 10 service passports identified through its preliminary investigations were issued between January 2023 and August 2026.
It further disclosed that all the documents had been cancelled and could no longer be used, adding that Ghana’s international partners had been notified.
The holders of the passports were also being pursued, including two individuals who allegedly used the illegally acquired documents to travel abroad in 2023.
US$29,000, US$5,000 payments
The Ministry disclosed that the first petitioner, in 2023, claimed to have paid US$29,000 to persons involved in the arrangement, while another petitioner in 2026 alleged that he paid US$5,000.
It said the petitions had prompted the investigations and subsequent interdiction of the two officers.
The Ministry also indicated that the security services would investigate the conduct of the former Director of Passports during the period in question, Ambassador Mohammed Habib Idris, who is now retired.
It said he would be sanctioned if found culpable, just like other officers implicated in the investigations.
Describing the alleged arrangement as a sophisticated operation that predated the current administration, the Ministry said it was determined to ensure that those responsible were brought to justice.
Denies diplomatic passport sales
The Ministry’s statement appears to draw a distinction between its findings and the wider allegations raised by the Minority in Parliament, which has called for a parliamentary inquiry into the alleged sale of both diplomatic and service passports.
The Minority Spokesperson on Foreign Affairs, Samuel Abu Jinapor, had presented documents, including approval letters and payment records, which he said pointed to irregularities in the issuance of the special travel documents.
However, the Ministry maintained that its investigations had so far uncovered irregularities involving service passports and that no evidence had emerged to establish the sale of diplomatic passports.
It also disclosed that between 2009 and 2016, a total of 1,397 service passports were issued, compared with 3,174 between 2017 and 2024 and 754 from 2025 to date.
For diplomatic passports, it said 2,899 were issued between 2009 and 2016, 5,682 between 2017 and 2024, and 1,944 since 2025.
The Ministry assured Ghanaians and international partners of its commitment to transparency and accountability, promising that anyone found culpable would face the appropriate consequences.
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