Publishing list of diplomatic passport holders needless - Mpiani

Former chief of staff under Kufuor’s administration, Mr. Kwadwo Mpiani, has described the call to publish names of persons issued with diplomatic passports as unnecessary.

According to him, the government would not achieve anything in publishing the names of persons with diplomatic passports because, if Nayele Ametefe aka Ruby Adu Gyamfi, the lady in the cocaine saga had travelled with a diplomatic passport, somebody must have facilitated that, and her name wouldn’t be on the list that the government would publish, but she will still be having a diplomatic passport.

The Deputy Minority Leader, Hon. Dominic Nitiwul yesterday in parliament challenged government to publish holders of all diplomatic passports.

In a swift response, the Communication Minister, Dr Omane Boamah, through his Facebook page accepted the challenge and posted, saying, “I welcome the request to publish the names of those who have been issued with diplomatic passports. You will love the comparative analysis. I hope the Data Protection Law allows this.”

But speaking to Moro Awudu on Radio XYZ Breakfast Show on Wednesday, the former Chief of Staff noted that people in high office are to follow the rules of possessing a diplomatic passport, adding that people given such passports need to use them wisely and avoid finding scapegoats when crises arise. He stressed that the call to publish the names will be an exercise in futility.

According to him, dealing with the cocaine issue in the country must not be partisan, but rather Ghanaians should be objective and find solutions to the present cocaine issue. He added that, if another president came in office, he would also be tagged with cocaine, therefore, the need to stop politicizing such serious national issues.