The Vice Chairperson of Parliament’s Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration Committee, Cletus Seidu Dapilah, has accused the Minority of making unsubstantiated claims about the evacuation of Ghanaians from South Africa and the issuing of diplomatic passports.
The Jirapa MP said the Foreign Affairs Ministry was committed to accounting for public funds used in the evacuation exercise.
“Nobody is running away from accountability. The Foreign Affairs Ministry is all out to ensure that every penny, every cedi that is spent is accounted for,” he said.
Speaking on TV3’s Daily Brief with Kemini Amanor on Wednesday, November 4, 2026, Dapilah described the Minority’s handling of the matter as a “non-starter” and said it fell short of the standards expected of parliamentary oversight.
He said MPs should establish the facts before making allegations against public officials.
“If you want to ask someone to account for his stewardship or to the people of Ghana by way of oversight or scrutiny, you ought to always get your data right before accusing people. That is way below the belt. That is not how MPs hold people accountable,” he said.
Dapilah added that allegations made without supporting evidence could damage reputations.
“At the time he was making the allegations he didn’t have evidence, but then someone’s reputation, integrity was on the line. If you did not have evidence, there was no need to come to the august House and make those claims,” he said.
He also revealed that the Foreign Affairs Committee had not been able to meet with all its members present to examine either the evacuation expenditure or questions surrounding diplomatic passports.
“Since this issue of evacuation exercise started, the Minority side of the committee have not been attending anytime we try to hold a meeting where all of them will be available,” Dapilah said.
“The committee has not met as a full house to deliberate on any matter and interrogate issues of diplomatic passport.”
Dapilah rejected claims by Damongo MP Samuel Abu Jinapor that diplomatic passports were being sold for between GHC10,000 and GHC50,000.
“Whatever info they put out there is not true,” he said.
He said eligibility for a diplomatic passport was determined by established institutional procedures and advised anyone seeking clarification to contact the Ministry for Information.
“There are various reasons why people are given diplomatic passports. If they don’t understand why some of the people that have diplomatic passports that they think don’t deserve it, they could contact the Ministry for Information,” he said.
The dispute involves two issues raised by the Minority in recent weeks. It has questioned government figures for the evacuation of Ghanaians from South Africa, citing a reported GH¢16.4 million discrepancy and demanding a full account of the expenditure.
The Minority, led in Parliament by Samuel Abu Jinapor, has also alleged irregularities in the allocation of diplomatic and service passports, including claims that diplomatic passports were issued to ineligible people and sold.
The New Patriotic Party (NPP) subsequently organised a demonstration, titled “Yɛgye Yɛ Sika”, over the evacuation spending and passport allegations.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has denied wrongdoing, saying all expenditure is accounted for and passports are issued according to established protocols.
