Visa scandal at Foreign Ministry

The Embassy of the United State of America (USA) in Accra has turned down nine visa applications submitted to it by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, as part of Ghana’s delegation to the United Nations High Level Plenary Session, currently underway in the New York.

The nine were presented as representatives of the All Africa Students Union (AASU), but the embassy read between the lines, and turned down the request.The nine applicants are Mr. Abdul Karim Hakib, who presented himself as the Acting Secretary General of the AASU, Mr. Hayford Amoh, claiming to be Director, Programmes and Projects of AASU, Ms Suraiya Lawal, whose designation was Young Ambassador, United Nations Millennium Development Goals in Ghana, AASU, Ms Philomena Kpodo Dattey, purported Gender Desk Officer of AASU, Mr. Kofi Dwamena, described only as a Facilitator of AASU, Ms. Suraa Alhasasn, Mr. Abdul-Amin Inusah and Mr. Haruna Shamuna all claiming to be from the AASU Secretariat, and one Mr. Batalima Latif Yakubu Abubakari, who held himself as Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Tomorrow Executive Leaders.

Information available to The Chronicle newspaper revealed that the nine escaped arrest due to the fact that they were physically not present at the embassy, but further information revealed that they had been blacklisted.

It is not clear whether the Foreign Minister, Alhaji Mohammed Mumuni, who is currently in New York, knew about the deal, but sources at the Castle confided in the Chronicle that President Mills had been briefed about the development, and was only waiting for the Minister to return home to query him (Mumuni).

An informant told The Chronicle that the names of the purported AASU executives were submitted by a top official (name withheld) at the Foreign Ministry to the embassy, for motives that are difficult to decipher.The Chronicle gathered that apart from Mr. Abdul Karim Hakib, who has allegedly been suspended by the National Union of Ghana Students (NUGS), his mother union; the remaining names do not exist in the records of NUGS and the AASU.

According to a NUGS executive, the positions the so-called executives arrogated to themselves cannot be given to Ghana, just because she hosts the AASU Secretariat. Indeed the substantive Secretary General of the AASU is a Nigerian by name Mr. Oludare Ogunlana, the NUGS executive alleged.

Investigations revealed that despite several petitions and alleged criminal records of Mr. Abdul Karim Hakib, including a pending complaint of fraud against him at the Ministries Police Station in Accra, the foreign Ministry found it convenient to deal with him. An official source contacted at the Ministries Police Station by The Chronicle, confirmed the criminal allegation against Karim Hakib, and said when he was arrested, Mutala Muhammed, a former deputy General Secretary of the AASU, and now a deputy Coordinator of the National Youth Employment Programme (NYEP), stood bail for him.