Kusi Boateng's passport scandal will dent Ghana's reputation

Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, the Member of Parliament (MP) for North Tongu, has expressed concerns that the scandal involving Rev Victor Kusi Boateng could cast doubt on the credibility of the country’s diplomatic passports.

Shirley Ayorkor Botchwey, the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration, clarified in parliament on Friday that Rev Boateng, officially recorded as Kwabena Adu Gyamfi at the Passport Office, was issued a diplomatic passport, a decision based on his status as a prominent citizen undertaking essential government engagements abroad.

In response to Mr Ablakwa’s inquiries about the issuance of the diplomatic passport, she explained that the decision to issue the diplomatic passport under the name Kwabena Adu Gyamfi was due to the fact that all necessary valid documentation, including his previous ordinary passport bearing the name Kwabena Adu Gyamfi, supported the application.

However, in an Eyewitness News interview on Citi FM with Selorm Adonoo on Friday, Mr Ablakwa expressed shock that Rev Boateng’s passport had not been confiscated, stating that it reflected poorly on the country.

He pointed out that if this had been the case with another individual, the person would have been arrested long ago.

“It is most shocking that as we speak, this government has taken no steps to apprehend and retrieve the diplomatic passport. Selorm if this development has you or me at the centre of it, we will long have been arrested. There are far-reaching implications for the image of our country and for the credibility of our diplomatic passports.

“This scandal is going to cast doubt on the credibility of diplomatic passports emanating from Ghana and when people show up at airports, at embassies with Ghanaian diplomatic passports, officials from other countries are going to be looking upon these people with a great deal of suspicion. So, it is most shocking that this diplomatic passport is still in the hands of this gentleman, I don’t know what his real name is,” he stated.

Background

Mr Ablakwa in his exposé in 2023 alleged that the Secretary to the Board of Trustees of the National Cathedral, Rev Boateng possessed multiple passports.

“From unassailable and irreproachable documents in my possession, Rev. Victor Kusi-Boateng AKA Kwabena Adu Gyamfi uses multiple passports and multiple identification cards with different names and different dates of birth as his special modus operandi,” he said.

He also alleged that JNS Talent Centre Ltd owned by Rev Boateng was paid some GH¢2.6 million to help build the National Cathedral, under the pseudonym name Kwabena Adu Gyamfi.

According to him, documents in his possession reveal that Kwabena Adu Gyamfi is the same as Rev Boateng who still serves on the National Cathedral Board as an Executive Council Member/Director.

The Human Rights Court on Thursday, July 13, dismissed an application by the Founder and General Overseer of Power Chapel Worldwide, Rev Boateng, which sought to restrain Mr Ablakwa, from discussing him in relation to the National Cathedral.

Lawyers for Rev Boateng filed the contempt charges after the MP was seen in a video refusing to be served with court documents relating to a defamation suit brought against him and kicking the documents with his foot.

Rev Boateng sued the NDC legislator for making publications suggesting that he is engaged in a conflict of interest and double identity for allegedly operating under another name, Kwabena Adu Gyamfi.