Political Tempest: Nana B's Passport Claims Ignite Heated Controversy!

National Vice Chairman of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Henry Nana Boakye, widely known as Nana B, has strongly refuted allegations that he sought a personal favour from Foreign Affairs Minister Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa to retain his service passport. In a statement issued on Tuesday, October 13, 2026, Nana B asserted that this controversy is a deliberate attempt to divert public attention from pressing questions surrounding an alleged GH¢16.4 million expenditure on evacuating Ghanaian citizens from South Africa.

Nana B rejected claims made by the Majority in Parliament, which suggested 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 Mr. Ablakwa's refusal to grant a request for a former NPP national organiser to retain his service passport. However, Nana B dismissed this allegation as “weak, diversionary, unreasonable and a red herring,” intended to obscure the concerns of possible corruption raised by Mr. Asafo-Adjei.

Clarifying his passport status, Nana B stated that he had only ever possessed a service passport and never a diplomatic one. He confirmed that he surrendered his service passport in full compliance with a directive from the President, as published by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. His actual request to Mr. Ablakwa was for a formal letter to notify embassies whose visas were affixed in his service passport, enabling the transfer of these visas to his ordinary passport. According to Nana B, Mr. Ablakwa personally requested that he have Mr. Asafo-Adjei follow up on this letter. Nana B recounted that after one visit, Mr. Asafo-Adjei was informed the letter was not ready, prompting Nana B to abandon the process and apply for new visas. He reiterated that Mr. Asafo-Adjei had not sought any special favour but merely followed up on the letter at Mr. Ablakwa's specific request. Nana B also expressed concern that the Majority had publicly displayed the biographical data page of his service passport, which was in the custody of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Addressing the evacuation expenditure, Nana B accused the Majority of attempting to shield Mr. Ablakwa from accountability regarding the GH¢16.4 million. He emphasized that the concerns raised by Mr. Asafo-Adjei were based on data submitted by the Minister himself and should not be dismissed as a personal dispute. He urged the Majority to demand explanations from Mr. Ablakwa concerning what he described as serious inconsistencies in documents related to the evacuation expenditure, invoking President Mahama’s promise of accountability. The statement did not, however, provide a detailed breakdown of these alleged inconsistencies.

In a related development, Samuel Abu Jinapor, the Ranking Member on Parliament’s Foreign Affairs Committee, also dismissed the allegations against Nana Asafo-Adjei Ayeh as a diversionary tactic. Speaking on Eyewitness News on Tuesday, October 13, Mr. Jinapor stated that the allegation was designed to distract from the Minority’s demand for an independent audit into Ghana’s evacuation expenditure from South Africa. Mr. Jinapor corroborated that Nana B had never held a diplomatic passport and had surrendered his service passport as per government directive. He confirmed that Nana B had made a formal requisition for a valid visa transfer from his old passport to a new one, a matter the minister had committed to processing. Mr. Jinapor noted that Mr. Asafo-Adjei Ayeh followed up once and was told the matter was still being processed, after which he did not pursue it further.

These comments followed specific allegations by the Majority Caucus on Parliament’s Foreign Affairs Committee, with Salaga South MP Hajia Zuwera Mohammed Ibrahimah claiming that Mr. Asafo-Adjei Ayeh and Nana B had pressured Mr. Ablakwa to allow Nana B to retain a service passport he was allegedly not entitled to hold. She stated that Mr. Ablakwa rejected this request because Nana B’s former positions (NPP National Youth Organiser and Board Chairman of the National Food Buffer Stock Company) did not qualify him for a service passport. Mr. Jinapor, however, rejected attempts to link the passport issue to the Minority’s scrutiny of the South Africa evacuation expenditure, insisting that the caucus had not accused the minister of wrongdoing. The claims of possible corruption and alleged failure to account for funds remain allegations.