Member of Parliament for North Tongu, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, has exposed what he describes as a $38.2 million visa processing scandal involving a contract between Ghana’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration and Access Citizens Services Ghana Limited.

According to Mr Ablakwa, the agreement, signed on October 2, 2024, hands the company exclusive rights to process visa applications worldwide under questionable terms.

In a post on Facebook, Ablakwa revealed that the contract raises significant concerns regarding data protection and national security. “Top diplomats and high-ranking security officials are totally outraged about the dangerous implications of the lopsided 2nd October, 2024 agreement,” he wrote.

He added that the deal forces Ghana’s diplomatic missions to transfer all front-end visa processing to Access Citizens within four months of the company establishing a Premium Application Center in the respective countries.

“The agreement raises major concerns about data protection, national security, and a crude undermining of key functions of Ghana’s diplomatic missions,” he noted.

Ablakwa disclosed that visa applicants would be charged £45 in the UK, $55 in the US, and €55 in Germany and Italy. Access Citizens is expected to rake in $38.2 million by September 2028, while Ghana’s Foreign Ministry would receive a “paltry” $2 million. He also criticized the revenue-sharing arrangement, which sees the Foreign Ministry receiving only 3% to 10% of visa fees.

He further questioned why Access Citizens was given exclusivity and alleged that the company was favored despite having no track record. "Access Citizens was incorporated on 4th October 2021—only 9 months before they were single-sourced for this contract," Ablakwa said, adding that efforts by Parliament’s Foreign Affairs Committee to review the original agreement were stonewalled by the Ministry.

Ablakwa also revealed that the Ministry agreed to a confidentiality clause to keep the transaction secret, a move he deemed “most unusual for public sector agreements where transparency and accountability ought to be the hallmark.”

He concluded by commending the diplomatic missions resisting the contract, with embassies in Washington and Beijing leading the charge. The NDC caucus, he noted, would summon the Foreign Ministry and Access Citizens to address the legal and procurement violations surrounding the deal.