Visa fraud: Case was summitted to speaker in January before letter leaked - Kate Addo

The Acting Public Affairs Director for Ghana’s Parliament, Madam Kate Addo has told the press that, the letter from the British High Commission involving some four Members of Parliament in the alleged visa fraud, was communicated to the Speaker in January.

According to her, the Speaker after receiving the letter initiated an action in resolving the problem. The Majority Leader had also promised to resolve the matter before the letter leaked, she added.

‘’The letter is addressed to the Speaker of Parliament and was brought to him as far back as in January. When the information got to the Speaker, he didn’t rest on it, he sort to find out what really was the problem and to resolve it. The Majority Leader also took steps to resolve the matter…the Majority Leader had promised the out-gone British Commissioner that he was going to get to the bottom of the matter. There’ve been back and forth with him. He was expecting that the matter will finally be resolved before it went into the public domain. Now that the matter is out of the grasp of Parliament, he informs me that he is limited as to what he can do.’’

She revealed, the Speaker who is currently out of town has promised to deal with the matter.

The Speaker she revealed has spoken to all the affected MPs. According to her, the Speaker believes the allegation is an affront to the standard and integrity of the August House.

Some of the members she added have confronted Jon Benjamin to register their displeasure and ‘’I think we should look at it in that holistic manner and hear from everybody when the House resumes.’’

“I have word that some of the members mentioned have actually confronted the outgone British High Commissioner to register their displeasure and to state that the facts were not as they have been presented….that some of the facts are not what they are or what actually transpired.

Three sitting Members of Parliament and one former MP have been cited a visa fraud. This was contained in a letter from the UK's High Commissioner to the Speaker of Parliament.

The MPs according to the letter used authorised persons and their diplomatic passports to apply for visas for persons who stipulated by their visas.

The MPs cited are: Richard Acheampong, MP for Bia East in the Western Region, Joseph Benhazin Dahah, MP for Ntotroso in the Bono Ahafo region, Johnson Kwaku Adu, MP for Ahafo Ano South West, in the Ashanti Region and George Boakye, former MP for Asunafo South in the Bono Ahafo region.