The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has uncovered a disturbing illegal activity in Ghana’s Embassy in Washington DC, United States of America, which caused a mistrust from the public and forced a temporary closure in May 2025.
Hon. Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, Ghana’s Foreign Affairs minister, made this known during his appearance before other members of Parliament on Wednesday, June 18, 2025.
According to the honourable minister in his address, an illegal link was embedded in the embassy’s website: The link to another website called Ghana Travel Consultancy (GTC) — a third-party agent providing illegal courier service to visa applicants.
GTC was being solely operated by one Mr Fred Kwarteng, who Hon. Ablakwa has revealed was not qualified to have held his position at the Embassy as an information technology officer.
Despite a query by then Head of Chancellor Her Excellency Genevieve Akpaloo, when first discovered, Mr Kwarteng continued his illegal services and even offered to help applicants fill their forms at a juicy fee ranging from USD 60 to USD 100.
The embassy adopted an online mailing system for visa and passport dispatch, which was operated by the same Mr Kwarteng post-Covid. Applicants were charged USD29.75 for the service.
It is yet to be discovered if Mr Kwarteng was working as a lone wolf in the illegal scheme or had others involved. But considering how long he had been working, it may never be concluded that he acted alone without others.
