NewzNational Vice Chairman of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) Henry Nana Boakye, popularly known as Nana B, has denied seeking a favour from Foreign Affairs Minister Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa to retain his service passport. He insisted that the controversy is being used to divert attention from questions over GH¢16.4 million allegedly spent on evacuating Ghanaians from South Africa. In a statement issued on Tuesday, October 13, 2026, Nana B rejected claims by the Majority in Parliament that Deputy Ranking Member of the Foreign Affairs Committee, Nana Asafo-Adjei, was pursuing a personal vendetta against Mr Ablakwa over the passport issue.
The Majority had alleged that Mr Asafo-Adjei’s criticism of the Minister stemmed from his refusal to grant a request for a former NPP national organiser to retain his service passport. However, Nana B described the allegation as “weak, diversionary, unreasonable and a red herring” intended to cover up what he said were concerns about possible corruption raised by Mr Asafo-Adjei. He clarified that he had possessed only a service passport and had never held a diplomatic passport, adding that he surrendered the service passport in compliance with the President’s directive as published by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
According to him, his request to Mr Ablakwa was for a formal letter to notify embassies whose visas were in the service passport so the visas could be transferred to his ordinary passport. Nana B said Mr Ablakwa personally asked him to get Mr Asafo-Adjei to follow up on the letter, which he did. “Okudzeto Ablakwa personally requested that I inform Hon.
Asafo Adjei to follow up on the letter, which I did, but after one visit, Hon. Asafo Adjei was informed the letter was not ready; hence, I abandoned it and applied for new visas,” he said. He maintained that Mr Asafo-Adjei had not sought any special favour from the Minister but had followed up on the letter at Mr Ablakwa’s request.
“I never requested to retain the passport because doing so would have been unreasonable as a national executive of the opposition party,” Nana B added. The NPP official also expressed concern that the Majority had displayed the biographical data page of his service passport, which he said was in the custody of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Turning to the evacuation expenditure, Nana B accused the Majority of attempting to shield Mr Ablakwa…
Akosua Manu, an advisor to NPP flagbearer Dr Mahamudu Bawumia, has demanded answers to questions surrounding Ghana’s GH¢49.7 million South Africa evacuation exercise, warning against shifting the public debate towards political disagreements over service passports. In a Facebook post on Tuesday, October 13, Ms Manu said the public deserved a transparent account of the expenditure, particularly in light of concerns about payment registers, alleged ghost names and discrepancies in flight records. She described the development as “an insult to the intelligence of Ghanaians”, arguing that allegations concerning Nana Boakye’s service passport did not address the substance of the financial questions.
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