Shirley Ayorkor Botchwey – Minister of Foreign Affairs
The Dubai Police in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) have launched a manhunt from one Kennedy Agyapong, who allegedly lured and trafficked young Ghanaian girls to that country to serve as house maids.
Kennedy Agyapong, who is said to be the brother of the young girls, abandoned them at the Maid Services Agency in Dubai in 2015.
The two girls later became stranded and the Ghana’s Mission in Dubai had to spend AED 2,075 to repatriate them.
This came to light when the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Shirley Ayorkor Botchwey and officials of the Ministry appeared before the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) of Parliament yesterday to answer queries raised in the 2016 report of the Auditor-General on the public accounts of Ministries, Departments and Agencies.
According to the report, the Dubai Police, after realizing that Mr Agyapong had defrauded the Maid Services Agency, declared him wanted.
Mr Agyapong, who is on the run, is said to have refunded AED 1,000 out of the amount spent on the two girls by Ghana’s Mission in Dubai and the mission is still pursuing him for the remaining money.
Answering a question by the chairman of PAC as to how the remaining amount could be retrieved from Ken Agyapong, who is on the run, the Director of Finance at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Bismark Amoako said it would be difficult to locate Mr Agyapong to retrieve the rest of the money, but the Ministry is on the lookout for him.
“These agents have become a problem for the ministry, because most times when Ghanaians are trafficked abroad, it’s the ministry that comes in to rescue them,” the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Shirley Ayorkor Botchwey added.
“Unfortunately there is no dedicated fund at the Ministry to take care of such exigencies.
The chairman of the committee, James Klutse Avedzi, suggested the creation of a fund by the ministry to address these problems.
By Thomas Fosu Jnr