Ghanaians are fed up with Jon Benjamin, the UK’s High Commissioner to Ghana, because he has been mired in too many domestic issues over the years, Kojo Adu-Asare, a former Member of Parliament for Adentan, has said.
According to the former legislator, Mr Benjamin’s recent letter to the Speaker of Parliament on visa fraud allegations against some MPs lacked clarity.
A former lawmaker in Ghana, together with three sitting MPs, have been cited in separate alleged visa offences by the UK government and a 10-year visa ban placed on them.
The four are Richard Acheampong, MP for Bia East in the Western Region; Joseph Benhazin Dahah, MP for Asutifi North (Ntotroso) in the Brong Ahafo Region; Johnson Kwaku Adu, MP for Ahafo Ano South West in the Ashanti Region; and George Boakye, a former MP for Asunafo South.
A confidential letter written to the Speaker of Parliament by the UK government through the UK High Commissioner to Ghana, Mr Jon Benjamin, said the four MPs violated UK visa regulations on different occasions by either providing false information for their visa applications or facilitating the visas of some relatives who overstayed their visas in the UK.
However, speaking on this matter on Peace FM’s Kokrokooo on Friday, 28 April, Mr Adu-Asare, who was a presidential staffer in the John Mahama administration, said: “We really want to know his issue with visa acquisition. Is he saying that if I am an MP, in my four-year term I cannot use my office to secure a visa for my child?
“We need to get this clear. These people involved in the matter obtained the visa legally, the problem had to do with those whose children did not return and that is a different matter.
“For me, we are talking about two things here – one is the acquisition of the visa, the other one is the person not returning from the trip. I was an MP for four years and so didn’t I have the privilege to ask my institution, parliament, to support me to acquire a visa for my child? If that is what Jon Benjamin is saying he should let us know. What he is telling us is that an MP will not be given a visa if he or she is not travelling to the UK for parliamentary duties?”
Mr Adu-Asare added: “He [Jon Benjamin] will be leaving Ghana in July. We are tired of him in Ghana. For me, I think he has served his term, we have seen too much of his involvement in our local issues.”
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