Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, Minister of Foreign Affairs
The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, has claimed that the Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo government left a debt of over GH¢450 million at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Speaking in an interview on JoyNews, on February 28, 2025, the minister explained that the GH¢450 million debt is mostly from access fee arrears the country owes to multinational organisations it belongs to, like the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), the African Union (AU), and the United Nations (UN).
He made these remarks while bemoaning the amount of debt accumulated by the previous government, stating that some of the debt at his ministry is from arrears on payment of ongoing projects.
“The debt situation is really frightening… the foreign ministry was not left out. I have also met colossal arrears of about GH¢453 million – largely our access contributions to international organizations we belong to and a number of projects started that have not been paid for,” he said.
Ablakwa, who is also the Member of Parliament of North Tongu, said that because of the level of debts left by the Akufo-Addo government, President John Dramani Mahama has directed that the expenditures for Ministries, Departments, and Agencies be drastically cut.
He said that his ministry, for instance, has had to suspend a lot of ongoing projects and would also not be engaging in a number of activities, including the purchase of new cars.
“In preparing the 2025 budget, we had to suspend a lot of projects. What my departments wanted was about GH¢3.3 billion when we had our first management meeting, but we had to slash it; looking at the arrears situation, we took out about a billion Ghana cedis.
“We suspended all fiscal infrastructure in terms of the passport application centres we’re supposed to construct this year so that we can clear the arrears. The president instructed us that we need to cut expenditures. So, we’ve cut expenditures drastically… No new vehicles for ministers, for chief directors, whether saloon or V8s. We are cutting down on even the travel expenditure. No first-class travels,” he added.
BAI/AE
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