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We will take action against visa fraud MPs - Speaker

Prof Oquaye who is out of the country, noted that parliament will not relent in taking action against the said MPs.

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Ghana’s Speaker of parliament, Prof Aaron Mike Oquaye has vowed to take action against the three sitting Members of Parliament (MP) and a former MP who have been cited by the British authorities for allegedly perpetrating visa fraud using their diplomatic passports.

A confidential letter addressed to the Speaker of Parliament, Prof. Aaron Mike Ocquaye, by the British High Commission said the MPs used an unauthorised person (a goro boy) and their diplomatic passports to apply for visas for some individuals who travelled to the United Kingdom and did not return as stipulated by their visas.

They are Richard Acheampong, MP for Bia East in the Western Region, Joseph Benhazin Dahah, MP for Ntotroso in the Brong Ahafo Region, Johnson Kwaku Adu, MP for Ahafo Ano South West, in the Ashanti Region and George Boakye, former MP for Asunafo South in the Brong Ahafo Region.

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Confirming the incident to Graphic Online, Prof Oquaye who is out of the country, noted that parliament will not relent in taking action against the said MPs.

“It has come to my notice and I take a very, very serious view of the matter and every action will be taken on it because the reputation of the Parliament of Ghana is very, very crucial,” he said.

On her part, the Acting Public Affairs Director of Parliament, Madam Kate Addo, said that the four accused MPs failed to go through the proper procedure of acquiring visas through the protocol department of Parliament.

“We don’t just get up and go to the embassies. The proper procedure is to go through the protocol department and this has always been the case. These four did not go through the protocol department. Clearly, Parliament was not involved,” she said.

She added that the protocol department has documents on relatives of MPs and so even if an MP wants to secure a visa for a relative, the right thing to do was to go through Parliament.

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Touching on former MPs holding on to their diplomatic passports, Madam Kate Addo said that the proper thing for such MPs was to return the passport to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs since they were the issuing authority.

Meanwhile, the UK government has placed a 10-year visa ban on the MPs cited for the alleged visa fraud.

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