Editorial: Investigate Ghana's Missions in Canada

Editorial: Events at the Ghana's Diplomatic Missions in Canada need thorough investigation Over the past three weeks, Ghana's High Commission in Ottawa and its sub office in Toronto, the Ghana Consulate, have been in the news for all the wrong reasons. Series of articles posted on the Ghanaweb detailed some very disturbing pattern of events that borders on organized defections from the Mission's supporting staff, allegations of abuse, accusations, counter accusations and, most disturbing of all, allegations of serious corruption that smell of criminal behavior.

The first issue regards what is alleged to be an organized defection scheme which is traced back to many years involving about four past Ghana High Commissioners to Canada. We have been aware of this defection patterns for a while but the last one involving the domestic servant of the current High Commissioner has raised issues that sound too strange to be true. In the context of the most recent defection and accusation by the domestic servant at the High Commissioner's residence, there seems to be a pattern and similarities in the stories that are told by the defectors when they run to claim refugee status at Canadian government offices. This therefore calls for proper and in-depth investigations by the government of Ghana, not only to establish the truth and take action if the abuse allegations are true but also to safeguard the image and reputation of Ghana and its diplomatic missions abroad.

Next in the allegations are series of accusations of naked corruption and misappropriation of public funds and resources at both the High Commission in Ottawa and the Ghana Consulate in Toronto. There are allegations of one Mission Officer being paid an undue salary arrears of nearly $16,000, the non-existence or disappearance of two Limousines "belonging' to the High Commission. Payments for, and maintenance costs on these two Limousines continue to show in the Mission's financial records when those vehicles were nowhere to be found. This exercise, according to the recent allegations, has cost the Ghanaian taxpayer close to one hundred thousand dollars which may have ended up in some private accounts. And there are allegations of disappearance of receipt books issued from the Consulate in Toronto which may involve thousands of dollars that have disappeared into private pockets dating back to the time when this new Consulate was opened in Toronto in 2002.

There are allegations of unnecessary, and maybe illegal, allowances being paid to some supporting staff persons especially drivers of the Mission whose employment were facilitated by some leaders of some Churches in our community. There is also another allegation of insurance premiums that were illegally paid to and on behalf of some of the Mission staff and their dependants that have run into thousands of dollars that have gone down the drain.

There is also a history of long-standing conflict and power-struggle between some of the Mission staff that is traced back to the tenure of the last High Commissioner, Mr. Odoi Sykes. From what we have read, this power struggle still exist under the current administration headed by Dr. Margaret Ivy Amoakohene. These allegations are really disturbing: officials that are paid by the Ghanaian taxpayer to represent and work on behalf of our country in foreign lands spend the better part of their time fighting among themselves and undermining each other only for their personal egos and power trips instead of working for the national interest for which the nation spends filthy sums of money for their upkeep?

And there is this unnecessary practice of posting low-level support staff of drivers, domestic servants, secretaries, receptionists and cleaners from Ghana to service the Mission and Consulate staff around the world; hirings that could be done locally to save the nation millions of dollars every year.

As the mouthpiece of the Ghanaian community in Canada, The Ghanaian News has promoted the interests and welfare of our Motherland on so many occasions. We have supported the work of the Ghana High Commission and the Consulate in Toronto on many occasions. We have launched and spearheaded appeals throughout the Ghanaian communities in Canada to support projects and programs at home aimed at improving the lot of our compatriots back home. We have sensitized our community members to the plight of our citizens back home in times of crisis and natural disasters and we have galvanized our community members to provide money and material resources to help. The Ghanaian News has been very instrumental in promoting trade and development between Canada and Ghana. We have hosted a big and successful exhibition of Real Estate development in Ghana and organized a trade Show, the Ghana-Canada EXPO. We have done all these and our community here has supported these initiatives with just one cardinal objective: the improvement of the social and economic life our country of origin.

In the face of all these, we feel very sick to our very bones to see and hear that those that carry the tags of "diplomats" who are supposed to facilitate the process that we have been engaged in to assist our Motherland, are the ones that are engaged in these open and daylight robbery of our nation's resources, including the resources that we help to generate here in Canada. These diplomats therefore take us for fools and we feel really duped and insulted.

On Wednesday December 12, 2007, The Ghana News Agency (GNA) carried a report that d uring the Parliamentary debate for the approval of budget estimates of some Ministries and State Organizations in Ghana on Tuesday December 11, 2007, a member of Ghana's Parliament had raised an alarm on the state of Ghanaian missions abroad. In his contribution, the M. P. Stephen Kwaku Balado Manu (NPP Ahafo Ano South) said there had been threats of ejection in some of Ghana's missions abroad for non-payment of rent and called for a second look at the service conditions of the staff of the nation's embassies and chancelleries. This flies in the face of the naked corruption and stealing going on at the same missions abroad.

In the light of the foregoing, we call on the government in Ghana to take immediate steps to launch serious investigations into the allegations that have surfaced at the Ghana Mission in Ottawa and the Consulate in Toronto. They are serious enough to erode confidence in the government and the work of the Ghana Diplomatic Missions. We also suggest that these investigations should be broadened to include ALL of Ghana's diplomatic missions around the world. What is happening in Ottawa and Toronto may be only the tip of the iceberg. There is definitely more dirt and bones hiding in most of Ghana's diplomatic closets around the world.

If the Ghana government wants the Ghanaian communities around the world to continue to offer our goodwill and support for development efforts at home, if the government is interested in maintaining a good image of our country and its people through the diplomatic missions, then the time to act is now. The government should look for a long and strong broom to clean and rid the Missions and Consulates of the dirt in which they are currently engulfed, swimming and sinking. WE WILL BE WATCHING AND PAYING ATTENTION!!!