Former Ghana’s Ambassador to the USA, Hajia Alima Mahama, has dismissed the claims of entering into a criminal agreement with Fred Kwarteng, who previously served as the Head of IT at Ghana’s Embassy in Washington.
She denied the accusation during an interview on 3FM on June 20.
“The contract I signed is completely unrelated to the allegations made by the honorable Okudzeto Ablakwa. I want to make it clear today so that Ghanaians can understand. I entered into a contract with Fred Kwarteng’s firm to protect Ghana from liability,” she stressed.
The Foreign Affairs Minister, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, has charged Kwarteng with establishing an unauthorized connection on the embassy’s website, which redirected visa and passport applicants to his company, Ghana Travel Consultants, where he imposed additional fees for various services, reportedly earning him over four million dollars each year.
Nevertheless, the former ambassador to the USA clarified that it is the responsibility of individual applicants to ensure the delivery of their passports, and they have three options to choose from: they can use a self-addressed envelope, hire a courier, or pick up their passports in person at the embassy,” Alima Mahama explained.
She elaborated to Blakk Rasta on the 3FM Urban Blend Show that before her appointment as ambassador, the embassy faced issues with misplaced passports and incorrectly addressed mail, which disrupted the embassy’s operations and caused inconvenience for applicants. This situation necessitated the hiring of a private courier service provider, which Kwarteng’s firm offered in 2019, even before she joined the embassy in 2021.
Source: HotFmOnline.com
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