Acting Director of Public Affairs at Ghana’s Parliament Kate Addo has indicated that the law will take due course irrespective of the persons involved if the case regarding the visa fraud is investigated and necessitates a full recourse of the law.
Addressing media persons, Kate Addo said the Speaker of Parliament Professor Mike Oquaye is very keen on maintaining the integrity of Parliament and as such has pledged to put the appropriate measures in place to ensure the issue is fully resolved.
According to her, the laws of the country have no respect for any person regardless of their position or ranking and hence the decision of the Speaker, Prof. Mike Oquaye to instill the appropriate penalties as regarding the issue.
“The laws are clear on these issues and the law is no respecter of a particular person so whoever has anything against anybody whether they are a Member of Parliament or not, once it is legitimate, the law can take its course and that’s what the Speaker indicated…he’s indicated that he is not going to take lightly any Member of Parliament bringing the name of Parliament into disrepute”, she said.
She further stated the Speaker, having heard about the situation called the persons involved to ascertain the actual situation from their perspective and is still working towards resolving the issue.
“He has spoken to all the members that were mentioned, there’s one former member and three sitting members, Mr Speaker has spoken to all of them, he has tried to find out their side of the story, he has tried to see what resolutions can be brought to the matter….Mr. speaker is keen on maintaining the integrity of Parliament….and he is going to see a resolution into the matter as soon as possible”, she maintained.
Three sitting Ghanaian Members of Parliament and a former MP have been cited in separate alleged visa offences by the UK government and a 10-year visa ban placed on them by the UK government.
Richard Acheampong, MP for Bia East, Joseph Benhazin Dahah, MP for Asutifi, Johnson Kwaku Adu, MP for Ahafo Ano South, and George Boakye, former MP for Asunafo South, the alleged persons involved in the case are said to have violated the 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.
A confidential letter written to the Speaker of Parliament by the UK government through the UK High Commissioner to Ghana, Jon Benjamin indicated that administrative measures have been taken to ensure that the Honourable members aforementioned are most likely not granted visas for the UK within the next 10 years.
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