One of the latest in the strings of scandals to hit this government has been the sale of diplomatic and service passports to persons under circumstances hinged upon criminalities.
For a fortnight or so, a story of diplomatic and service passports on same made the headlines in both the traditional and social media.
It was the opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP) which highlighted the anomaly by writing to the diplomatic community, especially the US Embassy.
At the time the story made the rounds, government, and for that matter the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, sought to ignore the narration as it did the South African evacuation scandal.
Eventually, unable to stand the generated heat, they interdicted the Director of Passports.
The now interdicted Director might not be able to speak out about what happened and would rather keep mute until the fire surrounding the scandal dies out. In fact, that is how this government operates; allowing time to take care of scandals. Unfortunately, we shall keep the scandals on the front burner.
The Director of Passports could not have engaged in the anomalies alone. He was directed to issue the criminal passports by a superior officer whose details Ghanaians must be furnished with.
Our image as a country has suffered a major dent by this development. At the time the opposition wrote to the US Embassy about the anomaly, a few people did not believe this could happen until government could no longer keep the scandal under the carpet.
We demand full disclosure about this issue. The interdicted Director of Passports is being used as a sacrificial lamb under the circumstances. We can bet that he would be moved to another department as the spoils of the scandals are shared.
As observed earlier, the issuance of this special category of passports under criminal circumstances inured to the interest of drug pushers who have found in Ghana a safe hub for moving cocaine and other hard drugs to Europe and elsewhere.
It would be interesting to find out the number of persons who have so far benefited from the criminal enterprise and at what cost. We would also want to find out whether the beneficiaries or customers are linked to the criminal underworld.
We have observed that under this incumbent administration, independent probes are anathema. Any demand for such investigations are especially dismissed by the Speaker of Parliament, whose aversion for allowing the government to suffer embarrassing consequences for their bad governance traits are too palpable.
Here is to state that it is not enough to interdict the Director of Passports when he was only acting upon instructions from a superior person. Government should go beyond the interdiction and undertake a major probe into the matter given the diplomatic implications of the act of criminalities.
Using the titles of public officials, some of them non-existent, cannot be said to be bereft of criminal intent and ironically by government officials.
What is it about the Ministry of Foreign Affairs that since the current minister assumed the political leadership it has been engulfed in myriads of scandals?