The Ghana High Commission in Ottawa has read with disappointment the Editorial of the Ghanaian News on the above subject matter which appeared on the ghanaweb.com on Saturday 1st February, 2003. The publication contains many false allegations and/or distortions which could have been easily thrashed out with the High Commission with which your paper maintains direct and regular contact,? Ms. Doris Brese, Consular Officer at the Ghana High Commission, Ottawa, Canada signed in a press release.
Ahead of the press release, Hon. Samuel A. Odoi-Sykes, the Ghana High Commissioner to Canada, has stated that, ?The Ghana High Commission shall be grateful for the publication of the attached reply to the Editorial of the Ghanaian News on the above subject matter which appeared on the ghanaweb.com on Saturday 1st February, 2003. We shall appreciate the full publication of the explanation. We thank you for your co-operation and respecting the Mission?s right of reply.?
Dated February 3, the press release which aims to the clear air about the long-running misunderstanding of the status of Ghana?s Consular General in Toronto, where over 80,000 Ghanaians reside, says that, ?You published that from your ?reliable sources? Nana Opoku Boahene, a former Asantefuohene of Toronto, has been appointed the next Consul General of Ghana in Toronto; that his position has been upgraded from an honorary consular officer to that of full-time paid consul-general; and that, according to your ?well-placed sources?, Nana Boahene?s appointment took effect from December 1, 2002.
?These allegations from your ?reliable sources? are entirely false. There is not an iota of truth in any of them. Nana Boahene has not been appointed Ghana?s next or new Consul General in Toronto. Moreover, the honorary consular office in Toronto has not been upgraded to a full-scale consulate to be manned by a full-time paid consul general. The High Commission wishes to state once again that nobody compelled Dr. La Kumi, the former Consul General to resign. His recognition by the Canadian Department of Foreign Affairs as Ghana?s Consul General in Toronto expired in October 2001, and no steps were taken to have that recognition renewed by the out-going administration which appointed him. He resigned of his own accord in the process of appointing a new Consul General by the new administration.
?On the resignation of Dr. La Kumi, temporary arrangements were immediately put in place in July 2002 to facilitate the processing of visa applications in Toronto from the office of Dr. Edmund Kwaw. So far these arrangements have worked quite satisfactorily. Dr. Kwaw?s offices were closed for the Christmas holidays for about three weeks during which applicants were asked to submit their applications directly to the Ghana Mission in Ottawa for their visas. Dr. Kwaw posted notices to that effect in his offices and at other vantage points. As a facilitator, receiving no form of remuneration at all, Dr. Kwaw was entitled to his rest during the Christmas holidays. Any inconvenience experienced by any community members during that short period is regretted by the High Commission.
?The High Commission is not aware of any interaction between the Ghanaian News and Nana Boahene last December. You cannot therefore say that the Mission is keeping the Ghanaian Community in the dark about the appointment of a Consul General which has not been made. Until a substantive Honorary Consul General is appointed by the Government of Ghana, the High Commission supports the current temporary arrangements for rendering consular services in Toronto. Secondly, the setting up and running of a full-scale Consulate General in Toronto will be determined by the Government of Ghana at the appropriate time. The Ghanaian News can better serve the Ghanaian Community in Toronto by checking with the High Commission before publishing news it obtains from its ?reliable sources.?
The Ghana High Commission in Ottawa has read with disappointment the Editorial of the Ghanaian News on the above subject matter which appeared on the ghanaweb.com on Saturday 1st February, 2003. The publication contains many false allegations and/or distortions which could have been easily thrashed out with the High Commission with which your paper maintains direct and regular contact,? Ms. Doris Brese, Consular Officer at the Ghana High Commission, Ottawa, Canada signed in a press release.
Ahead of the press release, Hon. Samuel A. Odoi-Sykes, the Ghana High Commissioner to Canada, has stated that, ?The Ghana High Commission shall be grateful for the publication of the attached reply to the Editorial of the Ghanaian News on the above subject matter which appeared on the ghanaweb.com on Saturday 1st February, 2003. We shall appreciate the full publication of the explanation. We thank you for your co-operation and respecting the Mission?s right of reply.?
Dated February 3, the press release which aims to the clear air about the long-running misunderstanding of the status of Ghana?s Consular General in Toronto, where over 80,000 Ghanaians reside, says that, ?You published that from your ?reliable sources? Nana Opoku Boahene, a former Asantefuohene of Toronto, has been appointed the next Consul General of Ghana in Toronto; that his position has been upgraded from an honorary consular officer to that of full-time paid consul-general; and that, according to your ?well-placed sources?, Nana Boahene?s appointment took effect from December 1, 2002.
?These allegations from your ?reliable sources? are entirely false. There is not an iota of truth in any of them. Nana Boahene has not been appointed Ghana?s next or new Consul General in Toronto. Moreover, the honorary consular office in Toronto has not been upgraded to a full-scale consulate to be manned by a full-time paid consul general. The High Commission wishes to state once again that nobody compelled Dr. La Kumi, the former Consul General to resign. His recognition by the Canadian Department of Foreign Affairs as Ghana?s Consul General in Toronto expired in October 2001, and no steps were taken to have that recognition renewed by the out-going administration which appointed him. He resigned of his own accord in the process of appointing a new Consul General by the new administration.
?On the resignation of Dr. La Kumi, temporary arrangements were immediately put in place in July 2002 to facilitate the processing of visa applications in Toronto from the office of Dr. Edmund Kwaw. So far these arrangements have worked quite satisfactorily. Dr. Kwaw?s offices were closed for the Christmas holidays for about three weeks during which applicants were asked to submit their applications directly to the Ghana Mission in Ottawa for their visas. Dr. Kwaw posted notices to that effect in his offices and at other vantage points. As a facilitator, receiving no form of remuneration at all, Dr. Kwaw was entitled to his rest during the Christmas holidays. Any inconvenience experienced by any community members during that short period is regretted by the High Commission.
?The High Commission is not aware of any interaction between the Ghanaian News and Nana Boahene last December. You cannot therefore say that the Mission is keeping the Ghanaian Community in the dark about the appointment of a Consul General which has not been made. Until a substantive Honorary Consul General is appointed by the Government of Ghana, the High Commission supports the current temporary arrangements for rendering consular services in Toronto. Secondly, the setting up and running of a full-scale Consulate General in Toronto will be determined by the Government of Ghana at the appropriate time. The Ghanaian News can better serve the Ghanaian Community in Toronto by checking with the High Commission before publishing news it obtains from its ?reliable sources.?
