Former Ministers of State in the erstwhile Mahama administration will soon to put of stop list if they don’t submit their diplomatic passports.
According to Minister for Foreign Affairs, Shirley Ayorkor Botchway, the appointees and former Members of Parliament will be put on “stop list” and prevented from travelling if the situation persist.
In an interview with JOY FM’s Evans Mensah on the sidelines of the launch of the Ghana@60 celebrations in the UK, the Foreign Minister indicated that some former appointees have refused to return their diplomatic passports.
She noted that, her Ministry has issued a formal notification early this year for all former appointees and ex-MPs to turn in their diplomatic passports but it has fallen on deaf ears.
Madam Ayorkor Botchway appealed to former Ministers and former MPs to return the diplomatic passports to prevent any embarrassment.
“I don’t want a colleague just because he is a former government appointee to go through such an ordeal,” she bemoaned.
She said while a “good number” of former officials have returned the document meant to ease the bureaucracy at the airport during travels, a ‘few’ still have not complied with the notification.
Madam Ayorkor Botchway could not provide immediately the number of persons still holding diplomatic passports.
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But, former MP for North Dayi George Loh expressed shock at the exposé of the Foreign Minister.
He revealed that he facilitated the return of all former NDC MPs diplomatic passports to the Ministry when they exited office
“I asked all my colleagues to return their diplomatic passports and we sent it to the Ministry to prevent any embarrassment” he added.
However, for the benefit of hindsight, George Loh urged his colleagues who still have the diplomatic passports in their possession to quickly return it to the Foreign Affairs Ministry.
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