The Ghana HC in Ottawa Saga: The Real Truth Part II

A few days ago, I put forward a few facts to give readers, the Ghanaian public and government some insight into the financial improprieties going on at the Ghana High Commission in Ottawa. I presented some facts concerning the naked stealing of public funds going on at the Mission and the sinister attempts by some “MBA’s” (Me baa ha akye) officials at the Ottawa Mission to silence the High Commissioner, Dr. Margaret Ivy Amoakohene through blackmailing. Today I present some further glimpse into more of the dirty dealings going on at the Ghanaian Missions in Canada including the recently upgraded Ghana Consulate in Toronto.

As some readers have pointed out in the comments section in reaction to my first piece, the trouble at the Ghana Mission in Ottawa has its roots in previous years. The genesis of the current rift between Her Excellency the High Commissioner Dr. Margaret Amoakohene and third officer (FSO A1) Susan Annobil can be traced to the tenure of the immediate past High Commissioner Odoi Sykes. It boils down to the conflict that raged on between H. E. Odoi Sykes and his former Deputy High Commissioner Charles Agyei Amoamah. When Agyei Amoamah was appointed in 2002 he made no secret of the fact that he did not like Odoi Sykes as well as then Honorary Consul General in Toronto, Dr. Martin La Kumi. Amoamah went about bragging in Toronto that he and the Toronto Chapter of the NPP were going to sack Dr. La Kumi because he was appointed by the NDC. They, (including John Nana Boahene, now Deputy High Commissioner in South Africa) influenced Odoi Sykes to publicly embarrass Dr. La Kumi in series of public events that eventually culminated in the sacking of Dr. La Kumi and the appointment of John Nana Boahene in his place at the upgraded office from Honorary conulate to a full consulate with drivers and secretaries being shipped all the way from Ghana to run the office.

The irony of this whole Toronto Consulate saga was that John Nana Boahene was a close friend of Dr. La Kumi but he worked secretly behind the scene with Amoamah to get Dr. Kumi fired. And what happened? Nana Boahene was appointed immediately to replace La Kumi around the same time that Amoamah was appointed as the Deputy High Commissioner to Odoi Sykes in Ottawa. As soon as he got rid of La Kumi, Agyei Amoamah turned his attention on Odoi Sykes bragging to people in Toronto that he was going to get Odoi Sykes fired and he will take over as the substantive High Commissioner, because he was close to the President and the President had asked him to straighten up the Mission. Odoi Sykes became aware of these machinations of Agyei Amoamah and relations between them never went beyond mere courtesies during the three years that they stayed together at the Ghana Mission in Ottawa.

It was in the midst of these internecine diplomatic wars that Odoi Sykes aligned himself with Susan Annobil who was virtually the fourth in command at the Mission at the time in an attempt to curb the wings of Agyei Amoamah. In the end, when Odoi Sykes left the Mission at the end of his duty tour in June 2006, he handed over the Mission to Susan Annobil instead of to the Deputy High Commissioner Agyei Amoamah. This is how Susan Annobil got so much power and control in the period leading up to the arrival of the new High Commissioner Dr. Amoakohene. As you can see from the foregoing therefore, Susan Annobil has been suffering from a sort of “power-withdrawal syndrome” since Dr. Amoakohene arrived. But she had been an “Oga kpatakpata” up to that point. She had then perfected the art of stealing from the Mission’s coffers with Finance Officer Yaw Yirenkyi. Between the two of them, the money of the Ghana Mission was their own money. Agyei Amoamah also left a debt of nearly $13,000 to the Mission because he decided to travel first class with his wife to Italy through Ghana. That air ticket debt became a bone of contention between the Travel Agency in Toronto and Agyei Amoamah for a long time. Many people in Toronto know about the struggle the travel agent went through to recoup his money. At the moment, my sources at the Ministry of foreign Affairs tell me that the Ministry has grudgingly paid that unnecessary bill of nearly $13,000 when it would have cost less than half that amount to the Mission if they had traveled economy class. More on Agyei Amoamah in later series.

Now to some more of the shaddy dealings at the Mission. One of the documents I have in my possession obtained from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Accra shows that Dr. Amoakohene had complained to the Auditors who recently reviewed the Mission’s books that the Mission’s records show that it had a fleet of eight (8) vehicles, but there were only six at the time Dr. Amoakohene arrived. She asked the Auditors to look for the documentation and the whereabouts of the two other vehicles for which full payments had been made as well as accounts showing on-going maintenance costs.

Recent correspondence between the High Commissioner, Dr. Amoakohene and the Auditor General in Accra (copies of which have been obtained by yours truly through my sources) show that this request from the High Commissioner to the Auditors to look for the whereabouts of the two Mission vehicles were strangely ignored during the recent audit review. Readers in North America can figure out for themselves the cost of two Diplomatic Limousines in Canada. This easily runs into a hundred thousand dollars which have disappeared into some pockets somewhere.

I have solid information that the Mission Finance Officer Yaw Yirenkyi has bought houses in Ottawa and New York and recently bought and shipped a brand new car to Ghana. I have the addresses of those houses and as well as copies of the shipping documentation on the car. This will be made public in due course if the Minister of Foreign Affairs decides to investigate the Mission to show that he is really serious in cleaning the dirt going on there.

Now, to the Ghana Consulate in Toronto, Canada’s largest City. In 2006 toronto Consul General John Nana Boahene was appointed Deputy High Commissioner to South Africa. In his place came Kwabena Asare from the Ghana Embassy in Italy. Seeing the chop chop culture around the Mission, Kwabena Asare is also engaging in some dirty dealings at the Ghana Consulate in Toronto. As a start he engaged as his unofficial driver Mr. George Baiden. George Baiden’s wife, Rose (who is related to Kwabena Asare) is also employed and paid $2050 a month as a full-time domestic at the residence of the Consul General, Kwabena Asare in Toronto despite the fact that Mrs. Rose Baiden is a full-time employee with the Ontario Provincial government working as a cook at one of the Correctional Facilities in Toronto. What time then does she get to do the full-time job for which the Ghana Mission pays her? More of the shaddy deals at the Ghana Consulate in Toronto will be unearthed in our next series. The former Consul General in Toronto, John Nana Boahene has a lot to answer too. Many Visa receipt books that were used during his time are reported missing from the Consulate after his departure. One of the dirty dealings the Consulate has been engaged in during John Boahene’s time and now during Kwabena Asare’s tenure is the non-issue of duplicates for receipts written. Most of the receipts issued by Kwabena Asare for visas have no duplicates that can be cross-checked. Where then do all the visa application fees go to? “Asem beba dabi”.

Back to Ottawa

One of the commentaries to my last piece from a reader suggested that a probe should be launched into the activities of the so-called Ghanaian churches in Toronto and Ottawa and their connections with the Ghana Mission’s dirty dealings. He was absolutely right. The Finance Officer at the Ghana High Commission in Ottawa, Yaw Yirenkyi, also doubles as an Assistant Pastor at the Ottawa branch of the Ghanaian-run All Nations Church. The pastor of that Church, Ralph Dartey is the son-in-law of Rose Baiden who is employed at the Toronto Consulate as a “full-time” domestic. And Pastor Ralph Dartey managed to get three of his church members, including one Congolese and one Ugandan, hired as drivers for the Ghana High Commission in Ottawa through Yirenkyi. These are three out of the four drivers the Mission has. Is it any wonder that Yirenkyi was paying these drivers a top-up flat unauthorized allowance of $300 a month on top of their $2500 monthly salaries? Any co-incidence? Maybe that allowance was being paid back to Yirenkyi and Pastor Ralph Dartey as “security” allowance. Can the Ghana Mission not find any drivers within the Ghanaian community in Canada?

I want readers and Ghanaian taxpayers to question the wisdom in hiring and posting of drivers, secretaries, messengers, cooks and other domestic servants from Ghana to our Missions abroad. My sources at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs tell me that next year, 2008 is described by the officials at the Ministry as another “Bumper Harvest” year. It is the end of another four-year cycle where many postings will be available at the numerous Ghana Missions abroad. There will be a scramble by every Kwaku, Nii, Kwasivi, Alhassan, and Nyameke at the Ministry to scramble to go for a four-year posting abroad. No wonder the Ministry is one of the most mafia-run organizations within the Ghana government set-up. That is why the so-called career diplomats and foreign service officials will stop at nothing to destroy any political appointee who stands in their way or try to question their financial harvests at the Missions abroad. Go to the Canadian and British High Commissions, the American and German embassies in Accra. All their domestic staff: drivers, secretaries, cleaners and cooks are hired locally in Ghana. These are rich countries to who we go all the time, cup in hand begging for handouts. And we show how rich we are sending cooks and drivers around the world paying them over two thousand dollars a month. Is it any wonder that doctors, nurses and teachers are always going on strike in Ghana because we do not have enough money to pay them well?

For starters, I am throwing a challenge now to two main actors in this drama to act with the utmost dispatch to clean up the mess at the Ghana Mission in Ottawa and other Missions around the world. The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mr. Kwasi Osei Adjei and Ghana’s Auditor General, Mr. Duah Agyeman should immediately conduct an audit review of the recent audit exercise at the Ghana Mission in Ottawa as well as audit all Ghana’s Missions abroad to unearth and close the conduit pipes that is siphoning our nation’s money into private pockets. Some of us have vital information backed by documentation obtained from some of the Missions abroad and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Accra. If our elected and appointed officials would not act in the public’s interest, we will take the necessary action to act on behalf of our motherland. A word to the wise……

Stay tuned. More to follow!