Ghana's Ministry of Foreign Affairs has suspended its Acting Director of Passports and a junior Foreign Service Officer while police investigate their alleged involvement in a scheme that sold Service Passports to people who did not qualify for them.
The two officials were named in a ministry statement issued in Accra on November 8, 2026, according to Graphic Online. Both have been referred to the Ghana Police Service for further investigation and possible prosecution.
The suspended Acting Director is Mahama Yahaya Amantana. The officer is Alhassan Sumani, whom the ministry described as the alleged chief architect of the operation.
Why it matters
Service Passports are official travel documents, and the ministry says the ones issued through this scheme have now been cancelled and cannot be used. International partners have been notified, and the ministry says it is pursuing the holders — including two people who reportedly travelled on the documents in 2023.
The case also touches the ministry's own hiring record. According to the statement, Sumani was named in petitions as the scheme's main organiser and had worked as a "goro boy" — a street-level facilitator — in 2023, before he was recruited into the Foreign Service on November 29, 2024.
What the petitions alleged
The ministry acted after receiving two petitions about irregular passport issuance. The 2023 petitioner said he paid US$29,000 to those involved, while the 2026 petitioner said he paid US$5,000, Graphic Online reports.
Preliminary findings, according to the ministry, suggest that people who were not entitled to Service Passports received them from 2023 onward after making illegal payments to a syndicate.
The ministry listed ten people who allegedly received passports improperly between January 2023 and August 2026. It did not say how many passports each person received.
A retired director is also in scope
In what the ministry framed as a fairness measure, it said Ambassador Mohammed Habib Idris, who was Director of Passports during the 2023 period under scrutiny and has since retired, will also face investigation by the security services and sanctions if he is found responsible.
The ministry said the alleged sale scheme was a sophisticated operation that began before the current administration took office, and that those behind it were identified through stricter oversight and what it called zero tolerance for corruption.
It also drew a distinction between document types: no evidence has so far shown that Ghana's Diplomatic Passports are being sold, and the investigations concern Service Passports only.
Political pressure and reform claims
The interdictions have drawn attention from lawmakers. GhanaWeb reported that Jinapor pressed for a full-scale investigation following the Director's suspension, and Ghana Business News reported that the Majority Leader assured Parliament of a thorough probe into the sale allegations.
The ministry used the statement to point to changes made under Minister Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, including chip-embedded passports that meet ICAO standards, Passport Application Centres in all 16 regions, round-the-clock operations, and a cut in the application fee from GH¢500 to GH¢350.
It also cited a recent Ghana Statistical Service survey that rated Passport Administration as the country's most transformed and least corrupt public institution.
The ministry said it remains committed to transparency, impartiality and accountability, and pledged that those responsible will face justice.
Watch for the police investigation to establish whether the payments described in the petitions can be traced to specific officials, and whether charges follow.
