Investigative journalist, Manasseh Azure Awuni, has questioned the legitimacy of a welfare account operated by the Embassy of Ghana in Washington, DC, following revelations contained in an audit report.

In a Facebook post on Thursday, August 13, 2026, Awuni alleged that the Embassy had handpicked a private company to provide courier and mailing services to visa and passport applicants, despite the company being owned by the Embassy’s Information Technology (IT) Officer.

According to him, auditors found that the IT Officer created websites that mimicked the Embassy’s official website and redirected applicants to the website of the private company.

Awuni said the company charged applicants nearly three times the average mailing fee, while the Embassy discontinued the option for applicants to purchase their own postage stamps and self-address their envelopes.

He further alleged that after the company secured the courier contract, the Embassy opened an ‘Embassy of Ghana Welfare Account’ with Citibank.

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Awuni said audit findings showed that all contributions into the welfare account came from the same private company that had secured the courier contract.

“After the ‘Ghana Embassy Welfare Account’ was opened, all the contributions into this account came from one source: the company which got the mailing/courier contract with the Ghana Embassy,” he indicated.

Awuni alleged that the Embassy periodically withdrew funds from the account and distributed them among staff, saying the payments were not limited to occasions such as funerals or childbirth.

He questioned the arrangement by drawing a comparison with a hypothetical transaction involving a government ministry.

“Consider this: If a road contractor whose company has a contract with the Roads Ministry pays money into an account and employees of the Roads Ministry share it, what will you call it?” he asked.

Awuni also addressed the mention of Kofi Tonto in the audit report, noting that his name appeared on two lists concerning payments on pages 66 and 68, while the third appearance on page 21 was a reproduction of an appendix on page 68.

He, however, stressed that the audit report did not directly indict Tonto or link him to the decisions that led to the creation and operation of the account.

The $800 was for child benefit, not loot - Kofi Tonto

“Kofi Tonto was not a management member,” he said, adding that, like several other beneficiaries, he was not part of the decision-making process that resulted in the account and its payments.

He, nevertheless, disputed the suggestion that the payment received by Tonto was simply a routine welfare benefit connected to the birth of his child.

“It is important to state one's role without trying to whitewash the process and the transaction,” Awuni said.

He argued that the origins of the funds, concerns raised by Citibank over the account and withdrawals, and the subsequent intervention by then Foreign Affairs Minister Shirley Ayorkor Botchwey raised serious questions about the nature of the payments.

According to Awuni, Citibank repeatedly raised concerns about the account and transactions, while Botchwey eventually ordered its closure.

He said the audit report suggested that the Minister may not initially have been given the full details surrounding the welfare account, but she nonetheless directed that it be closed.

Awuni further argued that the beneficiaries did not make contributions to the welfare account themselves, unlike conventional welfare arrangements, but instead received money originating from a company that had obtained a contract from the Embassy.

He said the circumstances surrounding the payments, including the bank's queries, pointed to what he described as the ‘illicit nature’ of the account and transactions.

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