{"id":2121,"date":"2025-05-28T23:43:15","date_gmt":"2025-05-28T23:43:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/parliamentnews360.com\/?p=2121"},"modified":"2025-05-28T23:44:16","modified_gmt":"2025-05-28T23:44:16","slug":"controversy-erupts-over-washington-embassy-shutdown-committee-chair-supports-move-but-mp-warns-of-financial-loss","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/parliamentnews360.com\/index.php\/controversy-erupts-over-washington-embassy-shutdown-committee-chair-supports-move-but-mp-warns-of-financial-loss\/","title":{"rendered":"Videos: Controversy Erupts Over Washington Embassy Shutdown: Committee Chair Supports Move, But MP Warns of Financial Loss"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><strong>Accra, 28 May 2025<\/strong> \u2013 A deep divide has emerged within Ghana\u2019s Parliament over the recent decision by the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Hon. Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, to <strong>temporarily shut down the Ghana Embassy in Washington, D.C.<\/strong> following allegations of fraud.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>At a press conference on Wednesday, <strong>Chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee<\/strong>, <strong>Hon. Alfred Okoe Vanderpuije<\/strong>, <strong>commended the Minister\u2019s bold action<\/strong>, describing it as necessary to <strong>safeguard the image and integrity of the mission<\/strong>. He affirmed that the Embassy was expected to <strong>resume operations on Thursday, 29 May 2025<\/strong>, with a <strong>new team of staff<\/strong>, free of corruption.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cWe support the Minister for all the actions that he has taken&#8230; The Embassy would be served without an iota of corruption,\u201d said Hon. Vanderpuije.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>He also encouraged the Minister to extend similar anti-corruption measures to other Ghanaian embassies worldwide.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-4-3 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Foreign Affairs Committee Backs Embassy Shutdown in Washington\" width=\"696\" height=\"522\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/P5cpBaFi2Jo?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><figcaption>A press conference addressed by the Chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee, Hon. Dr. Alfred Okoe Vanderpuye<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>However, <strong>Member of Parliament for Bosome Freho<\/strong>, <strong>Hon. Nana Asafo-Agyei<\/strong>, who also sits on the Foreign Affairs Committee, offered a <strong>strong rebuttal<\/strong> to the Chairman&#8217;s support, describing the move as a <strong>knee-jerk reaction that resulted in financial loss<\/strong> to the state.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cNo diplomat will do what happened&#8230; Even the decision to recall or to reopen confirms the fact that the Minister, who has the backing of the President, did not think through the decision,\u201d Hon. Asafo-Agyei asserted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>He questioned the rationale behind <strong>replacing the entire staff<\/strong> of the mission due to issues allegedly stemming from just the <strong>consular (IT) section<\/strong>, and emphasized that <strong>other departments such as trade, culture, or scholarships were not implicated<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cRather, they are causing some financial loss to the state&#8230; when you&#8217;re bringing these diplomats back to the country, you will spend so much.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The MP concluded by calling for accountability over the cost implications of the abrupt decision.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-4-3 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Knee-jerk Washington Embassy Shutdown is Financial Loss to the State \u2013 Hon. Nana Asafo-Agyei\" width=\"696\" height=\"522\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/_8-4or9iJUQ?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><figcaption>Parliament News360&#8217;s Exclusive Interview with Hon. Nana Asafo-Agyei <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Source: Clement Akoloh||parliamentnews360.com<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A deep divide has emerged within Ghana\u2019s Parliament over the recent decision by the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Hon. Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, to temporarily shut down the Ghana Embassy in Washington, D.C. following allegations of fraud.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2122,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[51],"tags":[1221,1257,1259,1258],"class_list":{"0":"post-2121","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-general-news","8":"tag-hon-samuel-okudzeto-ablakwa","9":"tag-hon-alfred-okoe-vanderpuye","10":"tag-hon-nana-asafo-agyei","11":"tag-washington-embassy-sutdown"},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v16.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/parliamentnews360.com\/index.php\/controversy-erupts-over-washington-embassy-shutdown-committee-chair-supports-move-but-mp-warns-of-financial-loss\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Videos: Controversy Erupts Over Washington Embassy Shutdown: Committee Chair Supports Move, But MP Warns of Financial Loss - Parliament News 360\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A deep divide has emerged within Ghana\u2019s Parliament over the recent decision by the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Hon. 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